Canberra flyer Nick Cotric could become the Raiders youngest ever Origin player

RAIDERS winger Nick Cotric is well and truly in the frame to become Canberra’s youngest Origin player since Laurie Daley with the 19-year old tantalising close to his New South Wales debut.

Gould verdict 'hurt' Cordner raiders player Nick Cotric at training at Raiders Headquarters in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

BOOM teenager Nick Cotric can surpass Canberra legend Laurie Daley as the club’s youngest-ever player to be selected for NSW.

In a four-way battle for a spot on the Blues wing, which includes Storm flyer Josh Addo-Carr, Roosters incumbent Blake Ferguson, Manly’s Tom Trbojevic and the Roosters James Tedesco, 19-year-old Cotric has high-level support to emerge as one of the fairytale stories of the 2018 State of Origin series.

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A left-winger, Cotric’s elevation to Origin is yet to be guaranteed due to the insatiable try-scoring form of fellow left-wing, Addo-Carr — who is a short-priced favourite to earn his NSW debut.

Cotric has barely put a foot wrong since his NRL debut.

However, such is the admiration NSW coach Brad Fittler has for Cotric’s power and mental steel at such a young age, the Blues mentor is seriously considering picking the young Raider and shifting him to the right wing.

While most would view the selection of a debutant on an unfamiliar side of the field as a gamble, Fittler has been assured by the Raiders coaching staff that Cotric — who was a fullback before he was a winger — can suitably handle playing either sides of the field.

If chosen, Cotric — who has scored 21 tries in 35 NRL appearances — would become the eighth youngest player in NSW Origin history to play for the Blues.

The big winger is one of five players considered for two spots.

The teenager is one of the most damaging ballcarriers in the game, no better example of his devastating impact than his 129-running metres, eight tackle busts, two line-breaks and try scored last weekend against St George-Illawarra.

Ironically, Fittler remains the youngest-ever Blues player in history — chosen as an 18-year-old from the interchange bench in 1990, eight years before Cotric was born.

Cotric — the 2017 Dally M Rookie of The Year — would also become the first Raiders player to represent NSW since Blake Ferguson in 2013.

Fittler is an unabashed fan of Cotric, who he selected in last year’s Emerging Blues squad, but ahead of announcing his Origin I team on Monday, may ultimately opt to go “with what he knows” in Ferguson, or either Test stars Tedesco or Trbojevic.

Cotric would be the eighth youngest Blues player in history.

With the NSW coach yet to settle on his backline, Cotric’s performance against Manly on Friday night in Canberra will come under a final screening.

On the opposite side of the field on Friday night, Trbojevic must deliver in order to grab the Blues fullback spot in a Sea Eagles side that has been mired by inconsistency this season.

Trbojevic is in a battle with Tedesco for the Blues fullback spot, but both players could also be chosen on the wing.

Tedesco played on the wing under Fittler for NSW City Origin in 2015.

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Originally published as Canberra flyer Nick Cotric could become the Raiders youngest ever Origin player