Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy hopes that Ryan Papenhuyzen gets the nod to play State of Origin with New South Wales and says his star full back can do no more.
The Storm are priced at 1/1 to reach the 2022 NRL grand final this season and Papenhuyzen is again proving to be a huge asset to Bellamy’s side.
Warriors demolition
The Storm were in outstanding form as the blitzed the Warriors 70-10 on Anzac Day and Papenhuyzen was the star of the show.
The 23-year-old picked up the Anzac Medal for his performance in the win and when Bellamy addressed the media after the game he said the fullback deserves a crack in the Blues Origin side.
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There is one big problem for Papenhuyzen, arguably the greatest fullback of recent times, James Tedesco, currently holds the jersey and would take some budging.
Even so Bellamy believes his man deserves a shot.
"I'd love to see him in there and I think he deserves to be there," Bellamy said. "Tedesco has been one hell of a player for NSW and we're aware of how many great fullbacks we've got eligible to play for NSW.
"It's up to the selectors but the one thing I will say is that he can't do any more than what he's doing to keep knocking on the door. And hopefully he'll get a start there at some stage."
Papenhuyzen focused Storm
The player himself is not thinking about origin and is just staying focused on doing his job for the Storm.
"You play good footy and you get picked in those sides, but I'm in a good footy team at the moment and valued here and love this team so that's what I'm focusing on,” he said.
