Toyota Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston will move to equal seventh for most State of Origin appearances for Queensland after being included in the Maroons team for game one of the 2014 season in Brisbane on Wednesday week.
The record holder for most consecutive Origin matches, Thurston will be contesting his 28th Origin clash to move level with Steve Price, who played for the Maroons between 1998 and 2009.
The champion five-eighth needs to score just four points at Suncorp Stadium to overtake Mal Meninga’s record for most State of Origin points for Queensland.
As expected, all three Cowboys who played for Queensland in all three games in 2013 have been selected for game one with Matthew Scott continuing in the front-row and Brent Tate on the wing.
This will be Tate’s 22nd Origin match and Scott’s 15th.
They travelled south to Brisbane this morning to be part of the team announcement ceremony at Suncorp Stadium that featured members of Queensland’s inaugural Origin team.
Gavin Cooper had been mentioned as a contender for a bench spot but lost his chance when he dislocated his hip against the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night, an injury that will rule him out for at least 12 weeks.
Aiden Guerra from the Sydney Roosters is the new face on the Maroons’ interchange list with Chris McQueen replacing injured Sam Thaiday in the second-row.
New South Wales will name their team on Tuesday at 11.40am.
Queensland squad: Billy Slater, Brent Tate, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Darius Boyd, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith, Nate Myles, Chris McQueen, Matt Gillett, Corey Parker. Interchange: Daly Cherry-Evans, Aidan Guerra, Ben Te'o, Josh Papalii. 18th man: Will Chambers. 19th man: Jake Friend.
