They're often at the epicentre when passion overflows on the field but Sam Thaiday likely won't be seeing Greg Bird at club or Origin level until Game Three of this year's series at the earliest after the Titans co-captain was handed a Grade 3 dangerous throw charge by the match review committee.
In the most dramatic charge sheet of the season to date, Bird's charge carries a base penalty of 525 points but with a 20 per cent loading his total points to serve reaches 630 points and a return of Round 18, effectively ruling him out of the entire Origin series.
If he chooses to take the early guilty plea and a four-week suspension, he will still have a match to serve when the NSW side for Game Two is announced, making him ineligible for selection.
The other option available to Bird will be to contest the grading at the judiciary this week and build a case for a reduced sentence that could enable him to play in Game Two.
"I haven't seen the tackle but I've heard a lot about it. The game is really cracking down on any lifting tackle, so what will happen from here I'm not sure," Thaiday said when quizzed on Bird's tackle from the Rabbitohs game prior to the charge sheet being handed down.
"He was a huge inspiration for them when we played them down the coast [in Round 6] and he always is that aggressor. He's always such a great leader for them so if he is sitting on the sidelines it is going to hurt them.
"We can't worry about who is playing, we've got a lot of things we need to work on ourselves."
A calf injury has kept Thaiday on the sideline since that 16-12 loss to the Titans in Round 6, the inspirational back-rower admitting that he further aggravated the injury while attempting to prove his fitness for the Kangaroos' Test against the Kiwis on May 2.
Having been put through his paces last Saturday in Townsville and again on Monday afternoon, Thaiday is confident of playing on Friday and hopes to see a fellow Maroons representative by his side.
Ben Hannant was dropped to play for Ipswich in the Intrust Super Cup on the weekend but after the Broncos forwards were out-muscled by the Cowboys last Friday, Thaiday believes recalling Hannant would be a wise move by coach Anthony Griffin.
"From all reports he played pretty well for Ipswich on the weekend so I think that if he's fit and ready to go he should be in the make-up of our team," Thaiday said.
"It's tough for Ben but on the other hand is shows how competitive it is at the moment. We've got some good front-rowers at the moment and it's good for our stocks but it's always hard to see blokes miss out and last week that was Ben Hannant.
"He went back to Ipswich and was very positive and enjoyed himself out there so hopefully it's pepped him up a little bit for the weeks to come."
Thaiday was on the sideline to witness the Broncos forwards succumb to a Cowboys pack led superbly by Kangaroos front-rower Matt Scott and insists those who get selected on Tuesday will be eager to make amends against Gold Coast.
"We're very proud as a Broncos forward pack and we did get beaten up a little bit on the weekend so I'm sure that the forward pack that gets selected this week is going to want to show all the other boys in the team that they're ready and hungry to take on this Titans pack," Thaiday said.
"We're at the time of the season now where we need to blood a few different players and try and work out a few different combinations because of the Origin period and I'm sure over the next few weeks you'll see a few different people playing different positions, a few young fellas might even get an opportunity as well to play some football over this next period of time."
In the most dramatic charge sheet of the season to date, Bird's charge carries a base penalty of 525 points but with a 20 per cent loading his total points to serve reaches 630 points and a return of Round 18, effectively ruling him out of the entire Origin series.
If he chooses to take the early guilty plea and a four-week suspension, he will still have a match to serve when the NSW side for Game Two is announced, making him ineligible for selection.
The other option available to Bird will be to contest the grading at the judiciary this week and build a case for a reduced sentence that could enable him to play in Game Two.
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"I haven't seen the tackle but I've heard a lot about it. The game is really cracking down on any lifting tackle, so what will happen from here I'm not sure," Thaiday said when quizzed on Bird's tackle from the Rabbitohs game prior to the charge sheet being handed down.
"He was a huge inspiration for them when we played them down the coast [in Round 6] and he always is that aggressor. He's always such a great leader for them so if he is sitting on the sidelines it is going to hurt them.
"We can't worry about who is playing, we've got a lot of things we need to work on ourselves."
A calf injury has kept Thaiday on the sideline since that 16-12 loss to the Titans in Round 6, the inspirational back-rower admitting that he further aggravated the injury while attempting to prove his fitness for the Kangaroos' Test against the Kiwis on May 2.
Having been put through his paces last Saturday in Townsville and again on Monday afternoon, Thaiday is confident of playing on Friday and hopes to see a fellow Maroons representative by his side.
Ben Hannant was dropped to play for Ipswich in the Intrust Super Cup on the weekend but after the Broncos forwards were out-muscled by the Cowboys last Friday, Thaiday believes recalling Hannant would be a wise move by coach Anthony Griffin.
"From all reports he played pretty well for Ipswich on the weekend so I think that if he's fit and ready to go he should be in the make-up of our team," Thaiday said.
"It's tough for Ben but on the other hand is shows how competitive it is at the moment. We've got some good front-rowers at the moment and it's good for our stocks but it's always hard to see blokes miss out and last week that was Ben Hannant.
"He went back to Ipswich and was very positive and enjoyed himself out there so hopefully it's pepped him up a little bit for the weeks to come."
Thaiday was on the sideline to witness the Broncos forwards succumb to a Cowboys pack led superbly by Kangaroos front-rower Matt Scott and insists those who get selected on Tuesday will be eager to make amends against Gold Coast.
"We're very proud as a Broncos forward pack and we did get beaten up a little bit on the weekend so I'm sure that the forward pack that gets selected this week is going to want to show all the other boys in the team that they're ready and hungry to take on this Titans pack," Thaiday said.
"We're at the time of the season now where we need to blood a few different players and try and work out a few different combinations because of the Origin period and I'm sure over the next few weeks you'll see a few different people playing different positions, a few young fellas might even get an opportunity as well to play some football over this next period of time."
