Melbourne will host game two and the famed MCG will witness a game with greater stakes at risk than the first. It is with these greater stakes; a loss for New South Wales sees them go down as the 1-0 team while a NSW win means we head to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for an epic, that the selections for each team become even more interesting.

It's a huge game for Daly Cherry-Evans. Let's ignore the back-flipping saga, DCE has huge boots to fill and in the same situation last year he was poor. Cooper Cronk is simply the man, he does everything expected of a half at an extremely high level and his combination with Billy Slater and Cameron Smith can never be underestimated.

It's hard to see DCE repeating last year's dose, there's a reason he has drawn such a reaction from his actions. He's firmly entrenched in the NRL's upper echelon, but game two from last year still lingers in my memory.

The key is that DCE will start, which allows Michael Morgan to hold on to his 14 jersey. That keeps his role simple and he won't have to change too much for game two.

Otherwise, the rest of the Queensland squad is what you would expect/it's the same.

Ah, the Blues. First of all I've said it many times before that I would love to see a utility man come off the bench and not just a bloke to player hooker. You have two blokes perfectly suited to this role in Josh Reynolds and Blake Austin who would definitely add some spark to NSW's attack and thrive running at tired QLD forwards. Laurie Daley, disagrees. 

Paul Gallen's inclusion is a no-brainer, although the NSW didn't look like they really missed what Gallen brings. NSW were tough in game one, they made metres and they tackled their hearts out, maybe Gallen will free up other blokes to add some spice to their game or Gallen's offloading ability might be an asset. Whatever, Gallen was always going to be picked if he was healthy.

The irony is that his Sharks home Andrew Fifita is the man to make way for Gallen. The NSW bench has Trent Merrin, Boyd Cordner, David Klemmer and Josh Jackson, which is a bit confusing. Fifita and Klemmer are two big boys who offer a bit of oomph, they either impact the game with their physicality or, Fifita especially can offer up a bit of x-factor. Again, NSW need something a bit different.

Jackson can cover any of the back row spots, I'd rather have him there over Cordner and that would have freed up a position for Fifita. A bench of Merrin, Fifita, Klemmer and Jackson is a beautiful combination. 

Plenty of discussion centred on the halves combination and it's been interesting to see how quickly NSW fans and media have turned on their halves. Laurie Daley said right after game one that he would stick with this combination and fair enough. Hodkinson's benching for the Bulldogs could play some part, but his job as the NSW halfback is a very simple one and I imagine that Daley will be in his ear all week telling him what a great player he is.

Brett Morris comes in for Daniel Tupou, after he returned from injury recently. Tupou was average in game one, he struggled to make metres and couldn't impact the game anywhere else. Clearly Daley ranks Morris ahead of Tupou and all he had to do was prove that he was healthy.

That's all, we'll be back later in the week to see how each team will go about their business.

It may include how NSW will look to match the Maroons in the niggle-wars.