Nathan Peats didn't say that when he came into the Blues camp on Monday. It wasn't spat out as a throwaway line at a staged media session earlier this year.

He tweeted it at 6.15am on July 4, 2012.

It was the morning of the State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium. Later that night, Cooper Cronk slotted over a 40-metre field goal with five minutes to go in the series.

Queensland won 21-20 and Peats was left heartbroken, as you would expect from a kid who played his junior footy with the La Perouse Panthers, right in the middle of Souths territory.

Social media often brings footballers undone. It once cost Paul Gallen $50,000. It once cost Josh Dugan a deal at the Broncos.

With Peats to now make his Origin debut after Peter Wallace was ruled out with a groin injury, that tweet is now reality.

How wonderful for a young bloke who was shafted out of Parramatta because of their salary cap insanity, who is yet to squeeze a contract extension out of the Titans, who never thought he'd play Origin, to now have the chance.

Peats is exactly what Laurie Daley needs: players who aren't wounded by past series defeats, ready to make the most of the one game for NSW they never expected to play.

In other words, a player who wants it. It sounds like a clich??d line: an Origin player who wants it? How could they not want it?

Not one will ever admit it, but believe me: there are some NSW players who can see a silver lining in being overlooked for Origin. Certainly their NRL coaches, family and teammates can see it.

Winning players come back from Origin duty with the confidence of LeBron James. Losing players are delivered back to their respective clubs and dumped on the front porch in the foetal position.

Former Roosters coach Brian Smith often lamented the fragile mental state of his halves Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney after an Origin defeat, so harsh was the criticism thrown at them. "Nobody sees what they're like when they come back," Smith said.

The Blues won under coach Laurie Daley in 2014, but the last two series have been brutal.

In 2015, the third and deciding game turned into a bloodbath for NSW. In 2016, the series was over before we even came back to Sydney for game three.

The clich??d line lately about Pearce, who has been named at halfback for the opening match at Suncorp on May 31, is that he's "never been in a better place" to handle the expectation of playing for his state.

It's reassuring to hear but let's not delude ourselves about where the blame will be placed if NSW don't win game one.

With hooker Robbie Farah - and also Paul Gallen - no longer out there, at least Pearce has a chance to grab hold of the side and direct it as he has for the Roosters this year.

Jarryd Hayne, picked in the centres, is impervious to the criticism Pearce and others have felt in the past.

As we keep being told, his club form doesn't matter because he craves "the big stage" - something that must puzzle the Titans, who are paying him $1.2 million a season to play on their stage.

Some wanted him at fullback for NSW and given the way James Tedesco has been playing there for the Wests Tigers, they have a case. At least at fullback Hayne has no choice but to get involved.

Recently retired Queensland players tell you that Hayne has been the player who worried them the most in the past decade.

He hasn't played Origin for two years and his club form since returning to the game late last year has been streaky at best.

He rarely seemed interested when the Titans played Manly on Saturday night. The week before, against the Storm, he was stood up by Will Chambers for a try then went down soon after with a bizarre nerve/knee/ankle injury but then returned after full-time for an unhindered victory lap alongside teammate Konrad Hurrell.

That's the Hayne Plane I know and love. The Hayne Plane I know and love also has the capacity to bust open a game.

As for the rest of the side, Daley remains stuck with one foot in the future, another in the past as he balances Origin experience with Origin potential.

There's some anger in the pack with Andrew Fifita and David Klemmer. Let's hope Wade Graham, named on the bench, gets plenty of minutes. And thankfully they've found a place for Jake Trbojevic in the side.

In the past, Daley's been an open book with selections but this time he's been mysterious and contradictory, and even those within the NSWRL aren't sure if it's by design or he just doesn't know.

The convoluted selection of Peats explains how tricky the coach's job has become. A week ago, he was leaning towards incumbent Robbie Farah but advisor Peter Sterling wanted Wallace.

If they were going to make changes, though, Daley wanted Peats. He ended up with Peats because Wallace was injured.

Meanwhile, in Brisbane, Maroons coach Kevin Walters shed tears at a media conference about the selection conundrums that he and his selectors faced.

In the end, Billy Slater was overlooked for Darius Boyd. Arguably the greatest fullback of all time or the incumbent Australian and Queensland fullback?

Daley can only dream of having such problems.