Before taking on the job as NSW coach, Ricky Stuart knew bringing down rugby league State of Origin’s greatest dynasty was no overnight task.

Creating a team capable of toppling Queensland’s champion ensemble was always going to take time but, entering the second year of his tenure, Stuart can at least see progress.

Last year he said he would be happy just to take one game off the Maroons – who have now won a record six straight series – but Stuart knows it’s time for more from his side.

“We have to build on the momentum we gained last year,” said Stuart.

“What we generated last year in regards to the type of football we played, the attitude and culture we created in camp, we have to build on that now.

“We have to be better than we were last year in regard to individual performances.”

Stuart knows his troops weren’t that far off in 2011.

They lost game one in the final minutes and triumphed famously on home soil in the second match before the emotion of Darren Lockyer’s Origin farewell provided the impetus for a series-deciding Maroons win at Suncorp Stadium.

For Stuart, that play at the death of game one – when Queensland’s big four of Lockyer, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston combined for the match-winning try – summed up the difference between the two states.

“Origin finds out the boys from the men very quickly,” Stuart said.

“We’ve got to learn to get into the grind of Origin and enjoy being in the grind.

“When you’re a young player and not a really experienced player at Origin level, it’s hard to get without playing it.

“It’s something that’s got to be taught and it’s something these young boys will be learning for the first time.”

The Maroons have no such dilemmas.

Their squad is littered with experienced campaigners.

Four have captained their clubs, while 12 members of the team are current Test players.

They could even afford to leave a current Australian Test player out of their side, with 18th man Daly Cherry-Evans unable to crack it for a run.

Queensland won’t be short on emotion either, with Lockyer’s 2011 farewell followed by Petero Civoniceva’s Origin swansong series.

Maroons coach Mal Meninga has dismissed the notion of `doing it for Petero’.

“Locky wasn’t that way either, he didn’t want too much fuss,” Meninga said.

“I think we will be able to handle it. We handled it really well with Darren. The best way to reward Petero is by playing really well.”

As for heading into an Origin campaign without Lockyer for the first time since 1997 – bar the 2008 series he missed through injury – Meninga said: “It’s a new era.

“We have Cameron Smith now as a captain, we have a wealth of experience in leadership in our footy side and we expect them to play to their potential.”

So too does Stuart, who has picked his side as much on potential as he has on form.

But having done his best to stop Queensland’s potent attack last year – when the defensive-minded Beau Scott and Michael Ennis were favoured – Stuart has gone for all-out attack in a bid to break the Maroons’ stranglehold.

“You’ve got to score points against these guys,” Stuart said.

“I don’t think you can just defend against this calibre of football team.

“They’re going to score points on you. I don’t believe you can defend to win against this team.”

Possibly his most significant change is the introduction of Todd Carney for his Origin debut in the key five-eighth role, replacing Jamie Soward who did little wrong but never seized control of a game either.

The gifted Carney has been in scintillating form, lifting a previously pedestrian Cronulla NRL team, and he is not the type to just ease his way into the role.

Attack or defence, NSW are going to need plenty of both if they are to finally bring down the Maroon empire.