NSW will turn back the clock and reunite a previous halves pairing at the start of a series for the first time since 2001, should Mitchell Pearce return for next week’s State of Origin clash with Queensland.
Coach Laurie Daley is tipped to announce Pearce at No.7 alongside James Maloney, bringing together 21 games of Origin experience – the most of any NSW pairing since Andrew Johns’ retirement.
Maloney and Pearce last played together for NSW in 2013, when the Blues were sunk by two points in the series decider at Suncorp Stadium.
It means this year’s game one will be the first time since 2001 – when Brett Kimmorley and Brad Fittler were united – that Blues selectors have returned a previous Origin halves pairing for the opening match of a series.
It will also mark just the second time since 2011 that the Blues won’t unveil a debutant in the halves for a series opener.
The pair’s combined 21 games – albeit just for six wins – will also be the most of any Blues halves combination since Johns’ last game in 2005.
On that occasion he and Braith Anasta combined with 26 games of Origin history for that year’s victorious decider.
The Blues have won just one series in the 11 years that have followed as they made their way through an incredible 19 halves combinations in that time.
In comparison, the Maroons have had just five.
But that number will rise to six if 36-game Johnathan Thurston is ruled out of next Wednesday’s match with a shoulder injury.
That would likely prompt Maroons coach Kevin Walters to bring one of either Michael Morgan or the uncapped Anthony Milford into the Queensland starting line up for the first time.
The Maroons will only have Cooper Cronk’s 13 games as an Origin starter in the halves, well down on the combination of Pearce’s 15 and Maloney’s six.
Again, that would make next week’s series opener the first time the Blues have gone in with more starting experience than Queensland in their halves since Johns’ last match for NSW in 2005.