Martin proves his fitness in style

No one can accuse Westpac NSW Blues forward Liam Martin of making a half-hearted effort to prove he’s ready to play Game Two.

Head of Performance Hayden Knowles asked South Sydney back-rower Keaon Koloamatangi, who is on the NSW Blues’ extended bench, to come to the team room in their Brisbane hotel to put Martin through some contact work.

Martin displayed category 1 symptoms of concussion in the Penrith Panthers’ Round 15 match against the Sydney Roosters on 10 June. But since then he has shown no delayed symptoms and finishes his mandatory 11-day stand-down today.

“Keaon walks in with casual clothes on, and there’s Marto fully decked out, full training gear on, mouth guard in and telling Keaon ‘Come on, let’s go, let’s go!’” Knowles told nswrl.com.au

There was some wrestling, warm-up drills and then the bump pads were added.

“Marto is saying ‘Run at me, run at me!’ then he wanted more detail like coming off play-the-balls and whacking into the tackle pads.

“Then he’s gone ‘Keaon, get rid of the pads, here’s a ball, run at me’. So they did a few of those and he (Martin) walked out of there so pumped.”

Knowles said Martin thanked them both – as he and Koloamatangi stood there with their eyes wide open.

“I was blown away with the intensity,” Knowles said.

“I turned to Keaon and said: ‘Get that into you before dinner’. And he had that look of ‘H-o-l-y’ on his face.

“We’re in the massage room basically, on the carpet, bare feet and Marto is in full kit.

“It was so good – he just knew he wanted to tick that box. It was a great little moment.”