“Send a message”: Smith urges Maroons to kick-off in series decider

Former Queensland skipper Cameron Smith has urged the Maroons to kick-off to start tomorrow night’s Origin decider and “send a message” to the New South Wales Blues.

The man who holds the games record for Queensland with 42 appearances for the Maroons made the comments after Billy Slater’s side were dominated by a physical Blues forward pack in Game II in Melbourne.

Smith said the attitude for Queensland needed to be to fire the first shot.

“Whether that’s we receive or kick off… they need to run like they’ve been shot out of a cannon,” he said on SENQ Breakfast.

“They need to be returning the ball like they want to run over someone and really make an impact for their footy side and say ‘hey look this is the way things are going to go for our team tonight’.

“If we win the toss, I’d be kicking off, and say hey boys let’s send a message right now, not only to the opposition but we’re going to send a message to the referee and we’re sending a message to the crowd about this is the way this team’s going to play tonight and put it on the blues.”

Smith, who was an assistant coach for Queensland in last year’s series victory, said the Maroons must push the boundaries in the decider at Suncorp Stadium.

“Rough them up, get amongst them, push the boundaries like they did in Game II,” he said.

“You look back over the last however long you want to look back at the game of rugby league, there’s been no team that has gone on to win a big game like this one tomorrow night without pushing the boundaries of the rules.”

The Maroons will be aiming for three series wins in a row when the two teams meet tomorrow night.