Mann ready to join Beetson as oldest Maroons debutants
Scott Bailey |
Canterbury lock Kurt Mann believes he is ready to become Queensland’s oldest State of Origin debutant since Arthur Beetson, after waiting more than a decade for his chance.
Mann will run out onto Suncorp Stadium on Sunday against Gold Coast knowing he is inching closer to a Maroons debut at the same ground in Origin I come May 28.
One of the NRL’s ultimate journeymen, the 32-year-old last month received the backing of Maroons coach Billy Slater who said Mann had Origin “traits”.
A centre when he debuted in the NRL with Melbourne in May 2014, Mann has become one of the key cogs of Canterbury’s rebuild for the past two seasons at lock.
He was given a brief taste of Origin environment when he entered Maroons camp in 2021, but the Winton junior from rural Queensland is firming as a bench option this year.
If Mann was to play, he would be the third oldest Origin debutant of all time behind Beetson in the inaugural Origin game in 1980 and NSW prop Tony Butterfield in 1998.
Other than Beetson, who had to wait until his final season when aged 35 for Origin to be introduced, no other Maroon has debuted after their 32nd birthday.
“I’m not getting any younger, so if I was ever going to be ready, I’m ready now,” Mann said.
“Regardless of when (a debut comes), you’re always going to be excited. I’m not there yet, it’s just a mention.
“I’ve still got to be playing good footy, but I’d definitely be excited and if I was given the opportunity, I’d grab it with both hands.”
Slater knows Mann as well as any coach, as they spent two years as teammates at Melbourne at the start of Mann’s career.
A halves utility for some time after that, Mann has benefited from mobile middle forwards becoming more valuable with the increased speed of the game.
The Maroons opted to have both Kalyn Ponga and Ben Hunt on their bench in last year’s series-deciding loss, and are expected to go with an extra forward this year.
Mann said he had not gone searching for Slater’s comments backing him, but several friends had passed them on.
“I’ve had people mention stuff to me about it … but we’ve still got a lot of work to do here,” Mann said.
“If we take care of our job here at the Bulldogs, the rest will take care of itself.
“It’s obviously a credit to Ciro (Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo) and the program they run here for me to be at this age and probably playing my best footy.
Mann also insisted there had been no change in mood at Canterbury ahead of Magic Round, after their first loss of the season to Brisbane.
“We had a minor hiccup on the weekend where we let the game get away from us,” Mann said.
“The result was about the only thing that was different. Everyone bounced in (to training) with the same energy.”
AAP
