Daly Cherry-Evans has vowed not to change a thing about his personality after receiving the Maroons captaincy, stick to the traits that earned him the honour.
Once a divisive figure north of the border after backflipping on a contract with Gold Coast, Cherry-Evans is now the toast of Queensland having been named skipper.
It seems an arduous responsibility for a bloke who's played just seven State of Origin matches and only returned to the arena in game three last series after a three-year absence.
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But Cherry-Evans, who trained strongly on Thursday and allayed fears about his ankle injury, is not shellshocked by the additional weight on his shoulders.
"I'm very proud to be standing here today as the captain. Certainly not going to get overwhelmed by the situation," a steely-eyed Cherry-Evans told Fox Sports News.
"I'm going to make sure I continue to be the same person that got me here, that communicates to the teammates and try and build that trust and relationship with everyone.
"The more we can do of that this week, the better we're going to be on Wednesday night."
Cherry-Evans has under a week to finetune his combination with fullback Kalyn Ponga, the Newcastle wunderkind starting in the No.1 for the first time in his young Origin career.
The Manly leader has been most impressed with Ponga's dedication to training.
"I'm obviously really excited to play alongside Kalyn. He's a massive talent, he's done some amazingly freakish things already in his rugby league career," Cherry-Evans said.
"I mean, there's still a lot of hard work that goes into his preparation. Just watching him train today, it's certainly no fluke what he does out on the field.
"He gets a good base from his training and I'm looking forward to building a combination with him."
NSW advisor Andrew Johns told League Life earlier this week that Ponga's name alone is enough to make him nervous in a sign of how highly-regarded the 21-year-old is by the Blues.
However, Cherry-Evans doesn't believe the Blues will be overly focused on Ponga despite his electric footwork and uncanny ability to make things happen.
"I'm sure they'll be wary of him, but in any team sport you don't look into the opposition too much," Cherry-Evans said.
"They'll be the same as that, they'll make sure they identify who's where but I think both camps will just be worrying about themselves."
Meanwhile, Cherry-Evans insisted he'll be healthy for the series opener.
"It [the ankle] feels good. As I mentioned at the start of the week, I did roll into camp with a lot of confidence," Cherry-Evans said.
"So the more sessions I do, the more confidence I'm going to instil in not just myself but the people watching."
