Andrew Fifita has issued a plea to Brad Fittler and the NSW hierarchy to pick him for games one and three in the State of Origin series, declaring he would play for free.
The Cronulla front-rower will not be available for the second game of the series due to a a scheduling clash with an international between Tonga and Samoa at Campbelltown Stadium next month.
No blue blood: Andrew Fifita would forgo payment to play for NSW this year.
Photo: AAP
However, after emerging as one of the form players in the competition in the past month Fifita has made it clear his allegiance to Tonga did nothing to dilute his passion for playing for NSW and his desire to feature in a series victory against Queensland.
“If they can make it happen I wouldnt say no," Fifita told Triple M radio when asked about his Origin ambitions after Cronulla's 22-16 win over Canterbury on Sunday night. "There is nothing more in the world I want than to win a State of Origin series. Ive never won one before. Id love to win one. I wouldnt let the team down.
'My heart is through and through a Blue': Fifita on his Origin ambitions despite his Tonga allegiance.
Photo: AAP
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"My heart is through and through a Blue. If they can make it happen… Id play for free. Id donate the money to charity, I dont really mind. If we get the series win and I get that under my belt and have a series win to my name I have done pretty much everything in the game."
Considering a player for only two matches of a series would be unorthodox but while Fittler is still leaning against including Fifita he is somewhat less resistant about the idea than he was.
"I still feel pretty strongly about the decision he made, but I'm going to give it another week," Fittler said.
Fifita's club captain Paul Gallen said he would wait to speak to the 28-year-old prop before having his say on the matter.
Fifita did not have a particularly eye-catching outing in the hard-fought win against the Bulldogs, although he did run for a team-best 169 metres. It was in fact his front-row partner Matt Prior who sealed the result with a determined effort, carrying Canterbury hooker Jeremy Marshall-King with him before reaching out and planting the ball across the line.
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan, meanwhile, confirmed that the Sharks would be interested in speaking to premiership-winning fullback if he wanted to return to the NRL from English Super League club St Helens.
Barba was released from his contract at the Sharks a month after their grand final triumph in 2016 after recording a positive test for cocaine.
“If he wants to come back to Australia… hes got a young family… well have a look at it," Flanagan said. “There is no issues. He made a bad decision. Hes a premiership-winning player here. Its our only premiership. We love Benny.”
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Chris Barrett is a Sports Writer with The Sydney Morning Herald.
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