Secret hospital stay ends with Cook carving up Queensland

Damien Cook will be delivering his No.9 NSW jumper to an Irish doctor who helped him into the Origin arena just 36 hours after being in Prince of Wales hospital hooked up to a drip.

Cook played a telling role around the ruck in the Blues' 34-10 thumping of Queensland at ANZ Stadium, having been secretly shuttled to Sydney early for treatment to a boil on his leg.

Upon reporting to hospital in the eastern suburbs on Monday night Cook's attending physician was ready to rule the star hooker out, with coach Brad Fittler placing Cameron McInnes on standby for the must-win clash.

"The doctor at Prince of Wales had a look at it and if it got worse he was talking about what we would do from there," Cook said after full-time.

"We were all hopeful that it would be good… I don't think he really wanted to me play game two, he was talking game three.

"But Catto [Blues trainer Craig Catterick] just said, 'No, he's got to be at captain's run tomorrow at 2 o'clock, so let's make it happen'.

"I woke up the next morning, he was amazed with it and gave me the all-clear to play.

"He will be getting this jersey. He was Irish so I remember as I was leaving I said to him 'luck of the Irish'.

"It worked, so Dr Groves and 'Cat' are the ones that got me here, so he'll get this jersey."

Fittler said he was convinced Cook would be right to go as soon as he heard his voice on Tuesday.

"I rang when he was in hospital because we had Cameron McInnes ready and I was speaking to (Blues advisor) Greg Alexander, I said we’d hear it in his voice.

"He rang at 10am in the morning after speaking to the doctor and said, 'I'm ready to go'. He met us out at captain’s run and had a blinder."

The reward for Cook and the Blues is a trip to Suncorp Stadium next Wednesday with the series on the line.

NSW are gunning for their first three-peat of series wins since 2005, also the last occasion the Blues crossed the border and won a decider in Queensland.

Fittler returned to the same rhetoric he adopted earlier in the week when NSW lost long-term captain Boyd Cordner to concussion and prepared under a mountain of criticism.

"It's a great challenge. They like a challenge," Fittler said.

"The only two times we've won three [series] in a row, both times we had to go to Queensland [in game three] and won up there in '94 and 2005.

"So we're comparing ourselves to those two teams. They're great teams. It's just a great challenge for them."

For Tedesco an Origin series triumph would mean lifting the trophy in front of a likely 40,000-strong Queensland crowd in just his second match as captain.

He performed to his usual strong standards in his first outing as Cordner's replacement, scoring a critical try in the second half as NSW gained momentum.

"We know Queensland are going to come out fighting at home," Tedesco said.

"It will probably come down to the last minute like it did last year, something similar.

"We were good tonight but we're going to have to lift again. It's not going to get any easier up there... To have the opportunity to lift the trophy up there would be something special."