The NSW Blues are just three days into Origin camp for the opening game of the 2024 State of Origin series, and there is still an injury cloud over the fitness of halfback Nicho Hynes.
Entering the camp with a calf injury, Hynes failed to warm up with the rest of the team on Wednesday morning, per 9News journalist Danny Weidler.
However, it is unknown at this stage if he participated in the Blues training session, as the media was asked to leave before it began.
Hynes has been battling a calf injury for the past few weeks, which saw him miss the game against the Melbourne Storm and leave the field against the Penrith Panthers last Saturday afternoon.
Despite the worries, Hynes declared that he would be ready to go in seven days for Game One of the series.
“It's good. It's ready to go,” he said via NCA Newswire.
“I'll take it easy today and tomorrow, and then I'll get physio and recovery and the rehab into it.
“The scans came up pretty well and I don't think the Sharks would have let me come in and they (the Blues) wouldn't have had me if they weren't fully confident that I'd be able to play next Wednesday.
“Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll be training fully with the team.
“I felt confident. I think the Sharks staff did really well by not letting me go back out on the field on Saturday night. I wanted to go back out but I just cooled down and it got really tight.
“This time last week compared to this week, it's much better. After the Roosters game at Magic Round, it pulled up really sore and tight and felt like that all week, so right now I feel like I'm in a much better position than I was which is a good sign.”
Hynes' failure to warm up with the NSW Blues coincided with Nathan Cleary making a surprise appearance at the state's training on Thursday, according to Danny Weidler.
A certain selection for Michael Maguire, Cleary, has been ruled out for the entire series after tearing his hamstring in the lead-up to the opening game of the series.
"It's very disappointing for him," Ivan Cleary said when his son Nathan fell down with injury.
"He felt it straight away, that would suggest it's … decent.
"It hasn't been an ongoing thing … He's basically trained for two weeks without any drama.
"I'm torn between his coach and his dad right now as well."