Origins of success come from

ONE thing that has always stayed true in our game is that when you get to the point where you have to hope, you're gone.

HOPE is a wasted emotion in rugby league.

It's artificial. One thing that has always stayed true in our game is that when you get to the point where you have to hope, you're gone.

I hope he does the job for me. I hope we're on. I hope we get the referees' interpretation.

Once you get to that stage, you're in trouble. The key is to commit and go forward with the structures and strategies that you want to do.

That's what faces the Blues now. They pick their team for Origin II tonight and after declaring last week that he was going to stay with the same team that won the first game, injury problems and a suspension have meant coach Laurie Daley now has to reassess that.

The talent available to Loz shows how much the Blues have come on. With James Tamou out, Tim Grant and Aaron Woods are banging on the door, both guys who came through our Blues In Waiting squad.

It shows we're getting ourselves into a position where we can pick players who are ready for Origin, not guys who we pick and then hope they can do the job.

The product of that is we go into the game with the correct team in regard to talent, commitment, self belief and cohesion. That's an Origin camp, and those qualities are what go into the camp. That generates the camaraderie among the players.

The first thing the Blues need to acknowledge is how different it will be in Queensland. One of the tricks to Origin is you have to build on what you have done in the first game but not rely on it.

If the Blues head into game two hoping to pick up where they left off in the opener, then they won't win.

At the same time, though, and this is where it is difficult, they have to pick up their training where they left off for game one.

The hard work on the field starts again.

If any of these players, the new ones that come in for those ruled out and also the young ones that don't have a lot of experience, go to Suncorp Stadium with the belief that this Queensland side will be the same as in Sydney, they will get beaten.

If they believe they've made it, that Origin is easy or that they have the opposition on the backfoot, or that Queensland are getting older or they just have to play well to win, then we will be coming back to Sydney with the series level at one-all.

And Queensland will be the underdogs, just where we don't want them.

Successful Origin players are never happy with their last game, because they know the dangers that lie in the next.

The best Origin players are always about the next challenge. It's a mentality. NSW's position at the moment has to be not about what did happen but what will happen.

The good news is this is the big change in this NSW team.

I was in the dressing room before the first game and the belief and confidence was evident. It was powerful.

They took it on to the field to the point where there was only a segment in that game where Queensland showed any real dominance, and that was when NSW took their foot off their throats.

We've never been in a better position over the past eight years to keep our foot on their throats until the last breath is out of them.

What we need is what is our greatest asset.

This squad has Origin attitude.

Now it comes down to the individuals, the likes of Gallen and Farah and the Morris twins, and everyone in between, to approach their footy with a ruthless attitude. To be relentless.

They need to go to Brisbane knowing they have done everything to prepare and that they need to enjoy those few days in Brisbane, and the only way in which they can do that is to win the game.

That is a positive.

The other positive is NSW walked away from game one knowing they have another gear in them.

We know Queensland are going to be a different football team up there.

But we know we can be, too.