TEN KEY STATS FOR STATE OF ORIGIN I
* Queensland's dominance at home
The Maroons have only lost one of their past nine home matches - in game one in 2014 when the Blues broke an eight-year losing streak.
* Smith the tackling machine
Heading into his 40th Origin match, Cameron Smith has made 1459 tackles, nearly double that of the next-best player on the list, Gary Larsen (813).
* Pearce equals Joey
NSW halfback Mitchell Pearce will equal Andrew Johns for most games played in the Blues halves when he runs out for his 16th Origin on Wednesday.
* Pearce's form
Pearce is also arguably in career best form. After 11 rounds, the Sydney Rooster playmaker has more try involvements (25) than any other player - the next best being Gold Coast's Ash Taylor. He's scored four, had nine try assists and 12 try contributions.
* Getting on the front foot
Since 1982, the team that has won game one has gone on to lift the Origin shield on 26 out of 35 occasions.
* Is 18 the magic number for Queensland coach Kevin Walters?
Queensland have won 35 of 37 matches when scoring 18 points or more
* Hayne the Blues' greatest?
Jarryd Hayne (nine) requires three tries to overtake Michael O'Connor (11) as NSW's all-time leading tryscorer.
* Boyd on the verge of history
Greg Inglis' injury has opened the door for Darius Boyd to write his name in the record books. The Brisbane skipper (17 tries from 26 games) requires just one try to surpass Inglis as Origin's greatest try-scorer
* Maroons still more experienced
Despite losing 107 games of Origin experience in Corey Parker, Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis and Matt Scott, the Maroons are still vastly more experienced. The Maroons boast a cumulative 210 Origin games compared to NSW's 108.
* Blues' Queensland connection
With Nathan Peats and Jarryd Hayne in the Blues line up, it will be just the fifth time NSW have picked two players from a Queensland-based team.
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