Cam Smith ready for hooker battle with Robbie Farah

CAMERON Smith enjoyed less than 30 minutes in enemy territory before the question was put to him.

CAMERON Smith enjoyed less than 30 minutes in enemy territory before the question was put to him.

Fronting a Queensland fan day at Fox Sports Studios, host Wendell Sailor asked the Maroons skipper - who had been whisked straight from Sydney airport to the venue - about a theory, sparked by Blues great Benny Elias, that Robbie Farah has usurped him as the world's greatest No.9.

"Well," the Kangaroo captain smiled, "I'm ready for him, mate."

And that was it. Ding, ding.

For while Origin has never needed extra bells and whistles to draw a crowd, the looming battle between league's premier hookers certainly shapes as among the highlights of Origin I - with many judges believing the personal battle will go a long way to deciding the series.

Farah yesterday added to the debate by revealing he expected to play all 80 minutes of the opener, despite Canterbury's Josh Reynolds being added to the bench.

Asked if he would play the game in its entirety, Farah said: "I think so ... that's the way I'm preparing and how, mentally, I'll go into the game.

"We have Josh there who can play a few positions but, having spoken to (NSW coach) Laurie Daley, he mentioned that my role won't be changing. So they're his expectations of me. In my mind, I'm going out there to play the 80 minutes."

The Blues yesterday held an opposed session against the Cronulla Under-20s in atrocious conditions at Kogarah Oval.

"It's rough but it could be like this on Wednesday night so it's good," Farah said shortly before taking the field in an early-morning downpour.

"We'll run through everything we need to today. This is our last major session before Wednesday night so we need to walk away today knowing we're ready to go."

Blues backrower Greg Bird agreed, adding: "We need to prepare for every condition and, to be honest, we're not worried at all.

"They've won seven in a row. Last year we didn't get the job done but we prepared well. There were a few little errors which we've learned from and we need to make sure they don't happen again.

"But there's no point playing the game too early. We're taking it cool at the moment. The fire is going to start burning in the belly in the next couple of days."

Farah also shrugged off talk Maroons playmaker Johnathan Thurston was suffering a virus, saying: "This is our last preparation, that's our priority.

"We want to get things right today and whatever happens with them is their business. They're certainly a great side and if it's a virus, I don't think he is going to miss an Origin game for a virus."