Unos, dos, tres! We have finally reach the climax of State Of Origin, game three and this game three is a perfect example as to why Origin is so compelling. Look at the difference in each squad from game one to three and while the difference isn't super duper crazy, the new faces and the constant changing of combinations makes each game slightly funkier.

New South Wales have been pretty damn boring though, keeping the same 17 from game two which while not giving me much to talk about is a great sign for Laurie Daley and NSW fans. They won game two, but I don't believe we have seen a near-perfect performance from the Blues and keeping the same combinations with the same players who fully understand and buy in to Daley's game plan is always a good sign.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle regarding Michael Jennings, but Daley and the Blues management have decided that the crime didn't deserve much time. I agree and Jennings maintains his position at left centre, but don't sleep on the influence that Jennings' game two effort had on Daley's decision. Jennings showed that he's probably equal with Josh Dugan in terms of running ability and the general threat that he offers, making me think that Jennings would have had to have done something pretty dramatic to be shunned for game three.

Aaah, but Robbie Farah.

Farah's battling a hand injury, a broken hand in fact and had surgery yesterday. That gives him just over a week to recover from SURGERY (I'm still trying to recover from the fucking flu) and Daley will rightfully give him ample time to suss that recovery out.

What's beneficial for the Blues is Michael Ennis' guilty verdict at the NRL judiciary which will see him scratched for one week. The Sharks are playing this weekend which will take care of the one week ban, but if he was found not-guilty, the Sharks would have wanted to know whether Ennis was to be a part of the NSW camp or return to the Sharks. That would have forced Daley to make some sort of decision about Farah before this weekend, but with Ennis unable to play this weekend, the Sharks don't need to worry about him and the Blues can welcome Ennis in with open arms.

Josh Reynolds and Ryan Hinchcliffe have also been in the wider squad as cover, but Ennis has been in some nice form with the Sharks and you would imagine that he's next in line should Farah be ruled out.

Farah's a tough bugger, he separated his shoulder in game one and played out that game as well as game two and now he's got a fractured hand. Will it be a bridge to far? If he does play and plays well, he should rise above Paul Gallen as the BluesGod.

Queensland have been forced to make a bunch of changes but will be pretty damn skippy as they welcome Cooper Cronk back. Cronk, it goes without saying, can walk into the halfback spot for the Maroons which has pushed Daly Cherry-Evans out of the squad. The decision to stick with Michael Morgan over DCE in the bench utility spot makes perfect sense as well; he can play fullback, centre, wing, half and hooker/anywhere, he's got that connection with Jonathan Thurston, there's less disruption with Morgan sticking withe same job.

We get to see Greg Inglis at fullback which is always exciting and he offers something slightly different to Billy Slater. He's more physical with his bigger frame but he's mastered much of Slater's signature traits with Inglis also within 10 metres of the ball in support and he's developed a nice passing game as well.

Moving Inglis too fullback means Will Chambers moves to centre and Dane Gagai gets a debut on the wing. Chambers is a NRL centre and is definitely a top 10 NRL centre so not a whole lot is lost there, he's got good feet and is big enough to handle his opponent Josh Morris.

Gagai will be a good player to keep an eye on. He's been the best player pretty much on a weekly basis for the Newcastle Knights, but those performances have come at fullback or centre and he now must play his role on the wing. That shouldn't be too much of a factor as he's played wing before and he has been in the Maroons camp for a number of years now with the knowledge that his chance will probably come on the wing so he'll have a nice understanding already of his job.

The loss of Josh McGuire is less than ideal, he has shown that he's got a long future ahead of him in the Maroons jersey but it does give Mal Meninga the chance to offer a slightly different look. Josh Papalii takes McGuire's bench spot and while he doesn't have the engine or the skills of McGuire, he does have a more hitman-ish nature about him.

The Blues dominated the Queenslanders physically in game two and Papalii could give the Maroons a bit of a counter-punch when the likes of David Klemmer start rippin' and a tearin'.

For mine game three gives us an example of how close these two teams are, and how the gap in the culture has closed between the Blues and the Maroons. Chopping and changing has been a staple for the Blues over the past decade but here they are rolling out a confident 17 who have done it before with their biggest concern being the injury to Farah. The Maroons are also reaping the rewards of the work they have done in building a wider group who are made to feel welcome and a part of the Maroons set up.

We'll be getting knee deep in how these teams will look to take the shield early nek week.