NOW that the picks are in and we've seen the NSW side for State of Origin I, on top of knowing what type of players coach Michael Maguire likes and how he wants his teams to play, it's clear who rates as the most important member of the squad.
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It's not either of the halves, Nicho Hynes or Jarome Luai, even though their contributions will obviously mean a lot.
It's not he who will touch the ball most, hooker Reece Robson, and it's not the captain, Jake Trbojevic. It's the fullback, Dylan Edwards. And it's not a close call. It's by a good margin.
Maguire the coach lives and breathes commitment and leading by example. He preaches courage, cohesion, character and working for your mate alongside you. He wants players who will bust their backside for the team.
Enough players with the speed and skill to make something happen if the opportunity arises, but every player with the desire to defend as if their lives depend upon it and earn the right to attack that way.
Michael Maguire wants players who will bust their backside for the team.
Players who will do anything to make up for a mistake, be first to the loose ball, chase so hard that even if you can't make the tackle you at least force the ball-runner across-field. The one percenters are 100 percenters to him.
Queensland were always going to name a team that included some incredibly gifted attackers outside the halves in the backline who all seem to possess an innate try-scoring ability.
It's the natural instinct of a coach like Maguire to find a way to restrict the ability of such players to do what they do naturally and then build on your team's hard work in having done that by playing to their own strengths in attack and establishing an advantage.
I know, it sounds like what every coach of any team would like to do, but not every coach has the right players, or even picks the right players when he does have them, or has the team play to a plan that suits his players the best.
Billy Slater is a tremendous young coach and he has prepared Queensland to win two series out of two, out-performing NSW coach Brad Fittler along the way.
Now he'll have to deal with a different approach from a Maguire-coached NSW team.
Maguire will want and expect a massive defensive commitment from his team. That will be a the biggest non-negotiable. It's dominant in his DNA as a coach.
He would be preparing the team with that as the most desired element of their plan and he has picked a group of players that is capable of delivering in that area.
It's why a terrier in defence like Cameron McInnes is in the squad - and as a starter.
It's why Reece Robson won the job as hooker.
And it would've been why Maguire was so keen to talk Jack Wighton into coming out of representative retirement for this series. But Wighton, the definition of a Maguire-type player, wasn't available, so you move on.
Now, within the Maguire approach, here is where Edwards comes in.
When the Maroons have the ball, if NSW can stop them from getting too far down the field and force them to make long clearing kicks, it will play to arguably the greatest of the Penrith fullback's many strengths - his dynamic kick return.
Many people thought Sydney Roosters fullback and incumbent NSW and Australian captain James Tedesco was unlucky to lose his Blues spot and that with a number of experienced players out it should've become a priority to retain him.
But Maguire went with Edwards and presumably it was because of the extreme damage Edwards can do out of the back combined with the team as a whole hopefully playing the way the coach wants them to play.
Edwards and Tedesco are very similar statistically in many areas this season, but then you get to average running metres and, within that total figure, kick-return metres.
Each has played 11 games. Edwards is averaging 233 running metres per game.
Seven times he has had over 100 kick-return metres. Tedesco is averaging 170 metres and has not had a single kick-return game in triple figures. His best is 78 metres.
Tedesco isn't playing badly. He's still one of the best fullbacks going around, but Edwards has gone past him and the threat that he is out of the back made him an irresistible choice.
If Queensland have to make clearing kicks from a distance, he'll be dangerous. Even if, just one or two times, he can break a tackle and get into the backfield, he is such a powerful runner that he can make a huge play.
Even if the defence is down there quickly, he can still be dangerous if they don't tackle him effectively first-up.
Wednesday's game at Accor Stadium will be the first Origin appearance for Edwards, but he has done it before in big games. Repeatedly.
The Panthers have won the last three grand finals. In 2021 against South Sydney, Edwards had 230 total run metres including 137 kick-return metres. In 2022 against Parramatta it was 291 and 103 and last year against Brisbane it was 306 and 138.
Each time, the opposing fullback was way behind on those figures.
In 2014, when Maguire coached South Sydney to win the grand final, Greg Inglis at fullback for the Rabbitohs had 254 running metres including 113 kick-return metres.
Maguire knows.
Whatever Edwards does in this game is going to be key.
Another key is Cameron Munster being out for Queensland. He's a killer when it comes to creating tries out of nothing to get his team a win. His absence is huge.
NSW to win.
