NSW rugby league great Steve Roach has identified the Blues’ bench as their secret weapon as Laurie Daley’s side aim to upset Queensland on home turf in Wednesday’s State of Origin opener.

The Blues can smell blood in the water with Queensland playmaker Johnathan Thurston this week withdrawing from the Suncorp Stadium match and breaking his 36-game run of consecutive Origins.

With question marks about the form of Nate Myles and Aidan Guerra, Maroons great Billy Slater overlooked because of concerns about his defence, incumbent Australian winger Valentine Holmes left out and Matt Scott and Greg Inglis injured, the scales have been tipped in NSW’s favour.

Laurie Daley’s side will head into the match equal favourites with the Maroons, remarkable given ‘The Cauldron’ has been a graveyard for the Blues in recent years who have won just one of their past nine matches there.

However what gives Balmain, NSW and Australian great Roach so much hope is the Blues’ depth.

Andrew Fifita was unlucky not to be awarded the Clive Churchill Medal in last year’s NRL grand final, Wade Graham is arguably the form back-rower of the competition, Jake Trbojevic is one of the best young forwards in the game and Jack Bird has in the past 18 months established himself as a marquee star.

All four are scheduled to start from the bench on Wednesday and Roach predicted the Blues had the troops to assault Queensland for the full 80 minutes.

“I really like our bench,” Roach said.

“Our starters have to go out there and try to gas themselves. The other blokes come on and you’ve started the job well, then they can go on and do the job.”

Roach said Daley’s only problem was working out his rotation given he had picked several players who can punch out a full game.

“Where do they fit? We’ve gone with (Tyson) Frizell, (Boyd) Cordner and Josh Jackson, they’re all 80-minute players,” Roach said.

“It’s all about controlling it. You can go in with a plan with your bench but 200 different things can happen.

“You’ve also got to be able to adapt when different things happen. Mate, I love our bench, I think it’s fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing our blokes start well and then them come on, do their bit.”