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Much has been made about Cobbo’s handling errors during the first half of the season, but under the high ball he has been quite safe. If there is a weakness in Cobbo’s game, it is the number of times rivals have got under his tall frame and driven him backwards, and quite often back into the in-goal area.
Cleary and Penrith pinned Cobbo to his corner in the first half with towering kicks and a solid kick-chase when the Broncos ventured to BlueBet Stadium in round six.
Fittler, who has become a fan of watching Cobbo each week, said: “It’s a shame he’s playing for the other side because he’s so good to watch. He’s wild, he’s strong, fast and energetic. It will be great to see him under pressure.
“[The wing] is a tough position these days. There will be some wind, about 30km/h from the west to south west.
“Wind affects how far you can kick the ball and weak minds. It’s what wind does. You have to deal with it – it’s another thing to do deal with.”
When reminded about the Panthers’ early tactics against Cobbo, Fittler said: “That’s what Penrith do. If you look at some stats in these [Origin] games, they’re high completion rates, blokes aren’t dropping the ball normally, and all those unforced errors, you don’t get them.
“You tend to be bringing the ball off your line a lot. We want to put them all under pressure.”
Kotoni Staggs (left) has identified his teammate’s flaws and passed them on to NSW.Credit:Getty Images
Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was backing Cobbo to handle the big stage, and said NSW would need to “pick their poison” if they targeted Cobbo or fellow flyer Xavier Coates.
A big talking point about the Blues will be whether Stephen Crichton is promoted from the bench and starts at left centre ahead of Jack Wighton.
“I’ll leave that up to you guys to decide,” Fittler told reporters.
“I can see the fact with Penrith players all around, those combinations are always good. I’ll leave that up to you.”
Cleary and Crichton were the only pair who missed the start of the Blues’ captain’s run on Tuesday as they practised goal-kicking across the road at the main stadium.
Watch the State of Origin exclusively live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now.