'He deserves his shot': Fresh face Fifita ready to fire

As a former series-winning Queensland Maroons centre, Josh Hannay knows what it takes to find success in the Origin arena.

That’s why he fully has endorsed the selection of fresh face Jojo Fifita to make his debut in Game One of this year’s series.

As coach of the Gold Coast Titans, Josh Hannay has seen exactly what Fifita can bring to a team and having served as an assistant coach to Maroons mentor Billy Slater for the past few seasons, knows what he’s looking for to support the balance of the team.

“Over the last little period, he's really developed his game,” Slater said when asked about his selection.

“And that's not the highlight stuff, it's more the preparation stuff, it's his defence.

“I think he's a wonderful player. We had him in camp last year. We brought a few players in just to give us a training run against our Queensland team and he was one of those guys.

“Speaking closely with Josh Hannay, I know that he has a really high opinion of Jojo.

“I think he's only just scratching the surface of where he can go in his career and hopefully, we can help him get there in this Queensland jersey.”

For Fifita – the surge into the representative arena has been a goal since making the switch from rugby union – a game where his father Pila Fifita made his name a former Tonga international who featured at the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

“I called Josh after I called my parents, and he was over the moon for me,” Fifita said.

“He was just happy and proud that I've got to here because I spoke with him last year and he knew this was one of my goals that I wanted to strive for.

“He's helped me every chance he can get; every chance he can this year in the pre-season and the season.

“He just does what's best for me and he was stoked for me.” 

In his support for Fifita, Hannay said like many of Slater’s Queensland selections, the centre’s key attributes could sometimes be missed unless you are seeking them out.

“I think anyone who watches the game closely and understands football would watch that guy and understand that he deserves his shot,” Hannay said.

“We know what he's capable of.

“(But) there's probably a lot of people that don't yet and I think they'll have a better understanding of his capabilities after Wednesday night.

“He's built for that arena and I'm really happy that he's been given this opportunity.

“(It’s) just the way he applies himself to the game when he doesn't have the ball; his off-ball effort, the way he moves defensively, the consistency of it puts him in really good positions to make really good decisions and affect the play positively.”