State Of Origin

Queensland will be without the services of big name players like Matt Scott, Greg Inglis and finally Johnathan Thurston for game one of the State Of Origin this Wednesday.

“They’re the toughest games all of time. They’re the hardest games. Things haven’t exactly been going Queensland’s way,” he said.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries. Of course, this is coming on the top of the retirement of Corey Parker last year.

The camp is the team's first away from Coffs Harbour since 2013, with the initial switch to Coffs coinciding with a drought-breaking series win.

The first session saw Dugan running around during attacking and defensive drills a little under three weeks after suffering a fractured cheekbone in a head-clash with Dragons teammate Russell Packer in the May 5 Anzac Test.

For the first time since Game Three, 2004 a State of Origin match will be played without Thurston after the champion five-eighth was officially withdrawn from the team, freeing the way for Anthony Milford to prepare for his Origin debut without any doubt.

On Wednesday morning Thurston told the media that he remained hopeful of playing his 37th consecutive Origin match but some testing late on Wednesday afternoon and a subsequent scan early Thursday morning confirmed that his shoulder was in no fit state to take the field and the decision was made.

Three years on he's hoping to lead New South Wales to glory again.

Since that series, Hayne spent the better part of two years out of the game, heading stateside to earn an unlikely NFL debut with the San Francisco 49ers before a stint trying to make it to the Olympics with the Fiji Rugby Sevens team.

As they seek a third-straight Origin series win and an 11th in the past 12 years, the Maroons will be based in the heart of the Gold Coast at RACV Royal Pines Resort in 2017, just 50 kilometres from the Blues' new base at Kingscliff which was announced last month.

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The departure of series-winning 2014 fullback Jarryd Hayne to the NFL left a huge gulf at the back but the form of Josh Dugan in 2015 combined with the performances at NRL and representative level of James Tedesco and Matt Moylan – followed by Hayne's return in late 2016 – means coach Laurie Daley is now blessed with an embarrassment of riches in that spot.

If anything the headache will be how to fit so many stars into the same team, Minichiello told NRL.com at a Blues developing players pathway event at ANZ Stadium this week.

Now Walters wants Holmes to show him how much a Maroons jersey means to him after a controversial NFL trial in the United States.

Cronulla's Holmes is again eligible for Queensland duty after being included in Walters' 2017 Emerging Maroons squad.

Holmes was among eight players slapped with 12-month Origin bans for breaking curfew at January's Emerging Maroons camp.

Walters said there were no hard feelings with Holmes over the camp controversy.

The NRL can today announce that Game Two of the 2019 State of Origin series will be played at the new Perth Stadium.

It will be the first time, barring the 1987 exhibition match in Los Angeles, an Origin match has been played outside of the eastern states of Australia.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said Origin was the game's showpiece event and deserved to be showcased to a new market.

"We saw Melbourne embrace State of Origin in 2015 and we expect Perth to do the same in 2019," Mr Greenberg said.

The Maroons have now won 10 Origin series in the past 11 years after their 26-16 Game Two win on Wednesday night and Queensland admit they want more of where that came from. 

The series win means that rookie Maroons coach Kevin Walters has a 100 per cent success rate in Origin matches, with the fan favourite starting where now-Australian coach Mal Meninga left off.