Maroons teammate Nate Myles has conceded that Will Chambers' Origin debut is now an even greater challenge than he had previously envisioned in the aftermath of his alleged involvement in an altercation in a Brisbane pub in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The investigation into the incident at the Down Under Bar at the tail-end of a team bonding session remains ongoing and puts a cloud over Chambers' finally earning a maiden State of Origin call-up on the right wing.
Myles remains confident that the alleged incident won't prevent Chambers from taking his place in the side but admitted that the pressure of representing his state has now gone up a notch.
"I'll throw it out there, it's just another test for the man," Myles said. "If it wasn't enough for him in his first game, now it's a test of getting ready with another thing out there.
"He's a great bloke and his footy's been doing enough to get him in the side. I know he's going to do all right; he's just got to train hard and play better on the night.
"It's not the first time we've had distractions in camp. As a team we just need to keep doing what we're doing, none of the boys have really been affected by it. To be honest with you, we haven't even really spoken about it.
The controversy surrounding Chambers is another distraction to a Maroons side that has had disrupted preparations for each of their three Origin build-ups and is another negative headline that rugby league can ill afford at present.
Myles himself has been embroiled in his own off-field controversies during his career and revealed that with the additional scrutiny on players in the modern era, more and more players are staying well clear of mixing socially in public.
"I know a lot of blokes that are already on that bandwagon," Myles said when asked whether it would get to a point where players can no longer enjoy nights out. "They just play it safe and cross out the uncontrollables and do it that way and to their credit it works out a bit better for them.
"There's no excuses in this but for sure [players are targeted]. There's no doubt that sometimes there's an incentive to target someone.
"There's so much criticism of footy players and how they should act, but it goes both ways and unfortunately it happens and you've just got to be careful with it."
