Hudson Young says he'll take his State of Origin debut with both hands if picked by NSW on Monday as perhaps the biggest bolter in the Blues' squad.
The Canberra second-rower looks set to be chosen by NSW coach Brad Fittler and fight with Newcastle forward Daniel Saifiti for the last spot on the Blues' bench for next Wednesday's series opener in Adelaide.
Fittler is likely to pick incumbents Cameron Murray and Liam Martin as his edge back-rowers with Newcastle's Tyson Frizell in a bench role, with Young fighting to join him on the interchange or even play the 18th man role.
Young, 24, admitted he'd played Sunday evening's clash with Manly with an Origin call-up squarely on his mind, declaring he "really badly" wants to pull on NSW blue and become a representative player.
"I'm not going to sit here and say that I don't. I want to play. It's something I've always dreamed to do," he said.
"Every day you wake up, Origin is something you want to do and I'm not going to shy away from talking about it because it's something I've dreamt as a kid.
"So if I get the chance to go out there and play, I'll definitely give it everything.
"Everyone will say it's at the back of their mind, but it's always at the front because it's probably the biggest arena in the game.
"It's something I look forward to hopefully achieving one day, and fingers crossed it happens this year."
Young would be Canberra's only representative player this year after NSW's Jack Wighton and Queensland's Josh Papali'i both pulled the plug on their Origin careers, with Corey Horsburgh set to miss the cut for the Maroons.
His knack for finding the line has lifted him to elite status among the game's second-rowers, with Young backing up last year's 14 tries with another five this season while playing an important role helping the Raiders overturn a slow start to the year.
NSW's Tom Trbojevic, when asked about his potential teammate after Manly's thrashing of Canberra on Sunday, described Young as "unorthodox" - a tag the Raider was happy to wear with pride.
"I don't like doing things the normal way; I like doing things my way," Young said.
"I love flying under the radar, I've done that my whole career. I'm going to continue to do that and if I happen to get the call, I'll take it with both hands."
