State of Origin game two: Blues, Maroons arrive in Perth, say there’s no issue with Optus Stadium surface

About $30 million worth of NRL stars have arrived in Perth ahead of this weekend’s historic State of Origin clash at a sold-out Optus Stadium.

The NSW Blues landed at Perth Airport about 12pm and were full of confidence despite an 18-14 loss in game one at Suncorp Stadium on June 5.

Terminal 4 was flooded in a sea of blue as fans approached them to sign shirts and rugby balls.

Matt Johnson, who has been a Blues fan his whole life, said having an Origin game held in Perth for the first time this year was a “dream come true”.

Blues Coach Brad Fittler said he was confident with his side’s chances of claiming the second clash and was looking forward to the enthusiasm of a WA crowd.

“Tickets sold out so quick and we were over here before when we were promoting the game,” he said.

Queensland Maroons Coach Kevin Walters was also confident his team would have plenty of supporters among the 60,000-strong crowd on Sunday.

“There’s lots of Queenslanders living over here and I think generally it’s a nice colour maroon, everyone seems to get behind it,” he said.

“I’m sure that the Perth people... are getting behind the Queenslanders and cheering our boys.”

Both coaches played down concerns about the hardness of Optus Stadium’s playing surface after a series of complaints from AFL players.

Walters called the arena “world class” and said the team felt privileged to have the opportunity to play there.

“We’ll be fine — I mean, we’ll play in the desert mate,” he said.

“Our boys will go anywhere to put that jersey on and represent their State really proudly.

“It’s great opportunity for them. It’s a world-class stadium, and we’re very thrilled and very excited.

“There’s plenty of grass on it and I can just sense the moment with 60,000 people there how exciting it’s going to be for our players and that will lift them to another level with the support that they’ll engage just being out there.

“It’s going to be a great experience for them.”

Fittler said he had been at the stadium before and had not noticed any issues.

“I’ve read the articles but their game’s a little bit different, they run so much, so considering we’ll have one training session then the game I don’t think it should be too big a problem,” he said.