Despite overcoming a recent bout of tonsillitis and suffering a concussion against the Gold Coast Titans last Saturday afternoon, Rabbitohs captain Greg Inglis said he is fit and fired up to take on the Warriors in Perth this weekend.
Having spent four days in hospital battling tonsillitis in Queensland when he was supposed to be in camp with the Mal Meninga's Maroons, Inglis looked to bounce back from his disappointing performance in Origin I but an accidental stiff arm from Ryan James cruelled that chance.
Given the opportunity to have three days off before returning to Rabbitohs HQ on Wednesday, Inglis confirmed himself as a certain starter to face the Warriors who are currently on a three-game winning streak, and laughed at the idea of him being rested like some of his other Queensland teammates have been of late.
"It has been a rough fortnight but the club gave me a couple of days off to refresh the body and mind so I'm 100 per cent fit and ready to go over in Perth. [The club and I] discussed it and we thought it was the right thing to do, I'm feeling fine," Inglis said.
"I definitely wouldn't want to miss any games. [Others like Corey Parker] are obviously a bit older than me, 31, 32, 33. I'm the pup of them all. I'm 28 so I can still refresh the body.
"I'm always ready to get out there and back up unless of course I have any injuries heading into the game. My body has been and is healthy and fine, other than the sickness. I'm not carrying any injuries or anything."
Besides playing part in the Rabbitohs' post-game press conference last weekend, Inglis – speaking for the first time since Origin I – said he remained very critical of his performance against the Blues, though he didn't regret playing ill.
"I was very, very critical of my own performance. I'm very down on myself because you can't go into an Origin game and expect to play well off one training session," Inglis said.
"You need that full prep and you need to be mobile. I was probably critical about how I played more than anything because you can't play like that in the Origin arena."
"I don't regret playing. I just had a job to do and I had to do it the best I could and I was just more critical and hard on myself. I'm not worried [about making amends] when I get into camp."
Meanwhile, with his Queensland teammate Daly Cherry-Evans backflipping on his rich Titans contract to take up an unprecedented life-time deal at the Sea Eagles, Inglis publicly backed the highly-criticised halfback.
However he also spoke in support of the NRL's latest initiative regarding players being allowed a 10 business day cooling off period after signing a contract, rather than the Round 13 deadline which is currently in place.
"I totally agree with the 10 day cooling off period, I think it just allows players to reassess about where they want to head and what they want to do," Inglis said.
"The main concern is the RLPA and the NRL have to talk through the rulings of everything and make sure that player welfare is of everyone's best interests."
