Half a game of Boyd Cordner is better than none at all.
NSW coach Laurie Daley has revealed how much the Blues need their inspirational skipper for the State of Origin decider after admitting he is unsure if Cordner can last the entire match.
But that didn't stop Daley declaring Cordner a certain starter on Wednesday night after he overcame a calf issue to complete Tuesday's 45-minute captain's run on the Gold Coast.
His inclusion means that for the first time since NSW's 3-0 whitewash of Queensland in 1996, the Blues will field the the same 17 for the entire series.
However, Daley admitted he was unsure whether Cordner would play all 80 minutes.
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Bench second-rower Wade Graham is expected to give Cordner a spell on the left edge, with Tyson Frizell on the right and Josh Jackson playing as the third middle forward with big minutes.
Daley said squeezing half a game out of Cordner would be good enough.
"I think if (Cordner) played half a game, that'd be great for us. But he's going in with all the intentions of playing 80," Daley said after Tuesday's run.
"Whether he gets through 80 or not in terms of fitness, that'll be yet to be decided.
"But the thing about our team is we've got plenty of back-rowers that do play 80 minutes for their teams and we've been sharing the workload around with those other players.
"If he needed a spell, we'd be able to give him one because we've got a lot of depth there."
Daley denied taking an underdone Cordner into the match was a gamble.
"I'm not a gambler so I wouldn't be targeting him with this game if I didn't think he was fit, because we've got fit guys there ready," he said.
"He's proven himself and we've given him right up until today to work with him on the decision. But what he's been able to do has just confirmed that he's right."
Daley, who could become just the second Blues' coach to win more than one series with a victory on Wednesday, said he feared all week that Cordner wouldn't recover in time to play.
"To tell you the truth, not until today. You're still waiting for something that could go wrong, but everything that he's done has just improved out of sight every day," he said.
"To see him out there this morning, he's proven himself. We've got every confidence in him."
