Boyd Cordner’s State of Origin debut in Wednesday’s series decider will be the first of many games for NSW, says former Blues back-rower Craig Fitzgibbon.
As a player and now assistant coach at Sydney Roosters, Fitzgibbon has known 21-year-old back-rower Cordner since he was 16.
He recalls being struck by how good he was at such a young age, when Cordner was already training with the first grade squad.
“Most people always thought he was going to get there at some stage, it was just a matter of when,” Fitzgibbon told AAP.
“For it to happen so fast for him is just another sign of his quality.
“He was earmarked at such at young age as a future rep player and he’s done nothing to disprove it.”
Cordner get his chance after being chosen by coach Laurie Daley to replace utility Josh Reynolds on the bench after Blues skipper Paul Gallen was ruled out with a foot injury on Friday.
Cordner skippered the NSW Under-20s last year against Queensland and made his representative debut for Country Origin earlier this year where he impressed against City.
Fitzgibbon, who played the last of his 11 Origins in 2008, had no doubt he would be unfazed by the big occasion.
“Everyone has spoken about his maturity and he’s been training at first grade since he was 16 so he knows what it’s like to be around grown men,” he said.
“I watched him in City-Country this year and you could see he really wanted it.
“The occasion won’t get to him at all.”
Roosters recruitment manager Peter O’Sullivan first saw Cordner as a 14-year-old in Taree on the mid-north coast NSW, and the man who spotted the likes of Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater said he was blown away.
“It sounds ridiculous but when he was 16 he was ready for the NRL. He’s been a man all his life,” O’Sullivan told AAP.
“He was born to play rugby league, born to play NRL and born to play Origin.
“Nothing he does surprises me. He’s played tough since he was a kid. He doesn’t take a backward step. He was born a man.”
Cordner’s path to the top has been all the more remarkable because he had to come back from two full knee reconstructions before making his NRL debut as a 19-year-old in 2011.
“People haven’t seen the full range of his talents,” O’Sullivan said.
“He’s the toughest I have ever come across and it’s daylight second.”