Aspiring NSW skipper Boyd Cordner predicts Sydney Roosters teammate Dylan Napa will be the beneficiary of Matt Scott's absence from the Queensland side this year.
The big red-haired hitting machine is being sized up for his maiden Maroon jumper with Kevin Walters facing a headache over his forwards stocks.
North Queensland skipper Scott is expected to miss the rest of the season with a suspected torn ACL, compounding the loss of ironman Corey Parker to retirement.
A State of Origin call up has been a long-time coming for the Brisbane-born 25-year-old after he was one of eight players blacklisted by team management last year for breaking curfew during the Emerging Maroons camp.
Napa is considered a leading contender for a spot in the Maroons 17 along with Korbin Sims, who has been rejuvenated following his move to Brisbane.
Roosters and Blues back-rower Cordner said his teammate was unlucky not to earn his first representative cap last year and anticipated he would be lining up against him at Suncorp Stadium for the Origin opener on May 31.
"He was pretty unlucky with his circumstances last year, I think he would have got a game," Cordner said.
"But a few of them weren't allowed to. I thought he was unlucky.
"He's always had that fire in him but I suppose it gave him that little extra motivation to play well and get his name up in contention."
Napa has been on the radar of Queensland selectors for several years and last year's brainsnap cost him dearly.
After destroying South Sydney last year, in a showing Phil Gould called among the most impressive displays he'd ever seen from a prop, he admitted he thought about what could have been the biggest moment of his life several times a week.
A year on, he says he's taken his medicine and ready to atone.
"I have learnt a lot," Napa said.
"It was a down time for me. It was a personal goal that I wasn't able to have a chance at achieving.
"But that's so far gone for me now. I'm putting my best foot forward."
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