TORQUAY - NSW Blues forward Tony 'T-Rex' Williams intimidates Queensland with his sheer size.
But it's one of the Blues' smallest players, rookie five-eighth Todd Carney, who strikes most fear into Maroons ahead of Wednesday night's State of Origin series opener at Etihad Stadium. Carney's resurgence as a world-class player this year with the help of Cronulla and NSW skipper Paul Gallen is the reason the Sharks are travelling so well in second place on the NRL ladder. If not for some personal issues, he should have made his Origin debut a few years ago.
Now, as a more mature player, the selectors' decision to reunite him up with his former Sydney Roosters grand final teammate, Mitchell Pearce, could be the X-factor NSW have been missing.