North Queensland coach Paul Green says he is genuinely concerned about the tight scheduling turnaround on State of Origin players.
Three of his four Origin players backed up only three days after the MCG clash, with Johnathan Thurston starring and props Matt Scott and James Tamou both having strong games in the Cowboys' 21-20 win over the Raiders in Canberra.
A shoulder injury prevented Michael Morgan playing, with the Queensland utility ruled out only hours before kickoff.
"It's extremely tough on them," Green said, of the need for Origin players to come back for NRL games so soon after Origin.
"The drain that Origin takes, not just physically but emotionally as well, is massive. I wanted to see how the boys came back when we eventually got back together as a group before we made any decisions on naming them.
"Happily, JT got a good night's sleep and bounced out of bed today, so we decided he could play. But yeah, we certainly considered not playing the three of them," said Green.
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Topic: Origin impact concern for players: Green
