Laurie Daley's proud State of Origin legacy is on the line as he rolls the dice once more with polarising playmaker Mitchell Pearce among a bunch of serial series losers.
A Blues legend, Daley has accomplished everything in Origin, including three series wins as captain and one as a coach when NSW finally broke Queensland's eight-year run of bragging rights in 2014.
But now Daley stands to become the first man in 37 years of fierce interstate rivalry to lose four series as coach.
And if NSW fall short for an 11th time in 12 years with many of the same old faces including Pearce, Jarryd Hayne and Brett Morris, there may be no coming back for the Blues mentor.
In Pearce, Hayne and Morris, Daley and new advisor Peter Sterling have opted for three of the Blues' dozen most prolific series losers in Origin history.
Only Paul Gallen, who featured in 10 unsuccessful campaigns before announcing his representative retirement last year, has suffered more Origin heartache than Hayne.
Already Daley's decision to recall Hayne, a seven-times series loser, at the expense of the express pace and tryscoring prowess that in-form James Roberts offers is being questioned.
"He was slow. He got burnt twice on the outside," Hayne's former Parramatta, NSW and Test teammate Nathan Hindmarsh noted after the code-hopping superstar was shown up by Blues discard Dylan Walker in the Gold Coast's NRL loss to Manly on Saturday.
But it is the selection of Pearce, the only player to endure six series defeats without triumph, that threatens to end Daley's five-year stint as NSW coach if the Blues again fail to win back the trophy.
While Daley and Sterling - who lost five of six series himself while wearing the NSW No.7 jumper in the 1980s - are confident the new and matured Pearce is in the best form and head space of his career, disgruntled fans are unlikely to cop another Blues failure with the Sydney Roosters star calling the shots.
With Blues stalwarts Michael Jennings and Robbie Farah overlooked and Greg Bird overseas, NSW have dispensed with another trio who have been there and rarely done that during Queensland's dominant reign.
But multiple series losers Josh Dugan, Aaron Woods, Andrew Fifita and newly appointed skipper Boyd Cordner remain.
Sterling's former Eels premiership-winning teammate Peter Wynn was central to the Blues' forging of a new winning culture in 1985, the workaholic back-rower named man of the match in the series opener before NSW reigned for the first time.
Wynn believes it's vital, more than 30 years on, that the Blues take the series opener in Brisbane on Wednesday week to re-establish that same winning feeling.
"If they can just win that first game to experience what it's like to achieve something which is very selective, winning becomes contagious," Wynn told AAP.
"They've just got to win the first game, then they come into the second game down in Sydney and they'll have all of NSW behind them.
"A lot hangs on the first game, not just the result but also the feeling the players are going to get from it."
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