Paul Gallen risks going into the State or Origin opener without having played any football in a month, after the NSW captain said on Sunday he might not play for Cronulla against South Sydney on Monday.

Gallen has been struggling with a knee injury suffered early in the Sharks’ round eight win over Newcastle on May 5.

He had been hopeful of playing against the Rabbitohs before going into camp with the Blues ahead of the first Origin game on June 5.

“I’m probably still 50-50 (to play Souths). I’m going to train today and see how I pull up but realistically I’m a maybe,” Gallen told the Nine Network’s Sunday Footy Show.

“I wouldn’t mind getting a game under my belt before the Origin game but in saying that if I don’t I will be really fresh and really itching to go so I don’t think it will hurt me either way.”

Gallen isn’t the only injury concern for new coach Laurie Daley as NSW seek to break Queensland’s seven-year stranglehold on the interstate series.

Winger Brett Morris will also go into the Origin series relatively underdone.

Morris will only have played once in the past month when he takes the field for Origin I in Sydney.

The St George Illawarra flyer made a successful comeback from a knee injury at Kogarah Oval on Saturday night despite the Dragons’ emphatic 19-0 loss to 2013 surprise packets Penrith.