Queensland flyer Tim Ryan says his Reds will keep a weather eye on former teammate Lawson Creighton in the build-up Saturday's clash with bitter rivals New South Wales.
Australia's oldest rugby foes will resume hostilities in Round 5 of SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific with Creighton, 26, set to run the cutter against the state he represented 34 times between 2021 and 2024.
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Ryan, 21, knows Creighton better than most after sharing Brothers' 2023 Hospital Cup win and is raring to bounce back from a "very disappointing" 41-19 loss to the Crusaders.
"We went away from being us - pushing the pass, just not sticking to our fundamentals - but we'll take a lot of learnings from it and move on to a big game at Suncorp this week," Ryan told reporters on Tuesday.
"(Queensland versus New South Wales) is definitely marked on the calendar. There's a couple of good fellas and good mates in their team so very exited to come up against them.
"Darby (Lancaster) on the wing, I played 20s with him but I won a premiership for Brothers with Lawson and I think he'll be thinking about it all week that this is the game he'll want to perform well in.
"I watched his game last week - he looked fit, he looked good - so I'm sure he'll be up for it.
He's got a vintage show and go I've seen it many times on his team, but it's his game positioning, game awareness, where to put the ball … so it'll be a big challenge for us backs going up against them."
The mind games have already begun with Waratahs coach Dan McKellar earlier branding Queensland as the "best team in the comp" but Ryan is under no illusions about how important this match is.
The Reds (2-1) currently sit in fifth behind the unbeaten Waratahs (3-0) with a win crucial for both sides' early top three finals ambitions.
"It's a big and special thing and you want to do your state proud when you pull that jersey on," Ryan said of the Queensland-New South Wales rivalry.
"My whole family are very passionate about those battles so I can't wait to see all the fans out there this week."
