League: Cronk cleared to play

Cooper Cronk. Photo: Getty Images
Cooper Cronk. Photo: Getty Images
Cooper Cronk has been cleared to play Wednesday night's State of Origin opener in Sydney after overcoming an ankle injury.

Maroons assistant Anthony Seibold confirmed Cronk had been given the green light from medical staff after resuming training on Tuesday.

It was the first time Cronk had been sighted since rolling his ankle at their Gold Coast training camp on Friday.

"He trained really well last night. I can confirm he is going to start tonight," Seibold said.

The Maroons assistant said Cronk was not the type of player who risked letting down his teammates by rolling the dice with an injury.

"Cooper is a real team person, he wouldn't play if he was at any risk," he said.

"There was a lot in the media about whether there was an injury or not.

"But you saw he didn't train. He missed a couple of sessions but he will be fine.

"He's ready to go. When he says he is right and medical staff give him the green light, he is good to go."

Seibold said Michael Morgan had impressed slotting into the halves in Cronk's absence at training.

But he admitted Cronk's availability was a relief for Queensland.

Queensland have lost both games Cronk has not started at halfback since he earned the No 7 reins in 2012.

"Cooper's record speaks for itself," Seibold said.

"The last couple of games he missed Queensland haven't gone too well.

"Having him in the group is a real win for us.

"But if Morgo had to do a job we had full confidence in him."

Seibold said Cronk expected to be targeted by a monster NSW now that he had recovered from injury.

"Cooper gets traffic at him every week. He is used to having big bodies running at him," he said.

 

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