The Second-Choice Blues, it’s not a saxophone song by Lisa Simpson, but an apt description of the spine NSW will roll out at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night. 

You can probably throw in the captain as well with Jake Tbojevic getting the gig after Nathan Cleary and Cameron Murray were ruled out with injury.

James Tedesco is inarguably the second-choice fullback, recalled to the team after the Panther who replaced him suffered a thigh injury at training on the weekend.

If everyone was fit and available, the halves would be Cleary with Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses as his playmaking partner while Reece Robson has got the hooker’s spot on merit from the selectors even though Queensland would have been more nervous if Api Koroisau was in the role on Wednesday night.

And while all this does not mean the Blues are goners in Origin I, the cards are stacked against them. 

Tedesco’s late recall to fullback gives Michael Maguire little time to establish combinations on each edge. 

The Roosters veteran has played plenty of footy at Origin level with Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and Brian To’o but Edwards knows their nuances inside and out from their four straight Grand Final runs at Penrith. 

And Tedesco has no experience with debutant duo Zac Lomax and Joseph Suaalii or very little in the case of halfback Nicho Hynes and Robson. 

Maguire is not the kind of coach who will tear up a game plan a few days out from kick-off and rejig his tactics around Tedesco’s strengths. 

He will have to adapt. Tedesco is smart enough to know that this is a new era for NSW. 

The 30-year-old was a key component of Brad Fittler’s six-year reign but was cast aside by Maguire when he selected his first squad. 

Tedesco’s recall after Edwards’ untimely thigh injury on the weekend would have been an awkward situation for all of two minutes. 

Neither he nor Maguire burnt their respective bridges when Edwards got the nod and irrespective of what a Maroons legend like Gorden Tallis with a not-so-hidden agenda of disrupting the Blues might say, it is far from “embarrassing” to bring him back into the fold. 

What else should Maguire have done with Tom Trbojevic injured – picked Latrell Mitchell on the back of his uninspiring recent form, take a gamble on an unknown commodity like Scott Drinkwater or rush Clint Gutherson in just one week back from a knee injury?

The absolute left-field option would have been to switch Hynes to the back, where he excelled during his Storm days early in his career and being Moses in at halfback after his barnstorming return from a foot injury last week but that would have also been a massive gamble and caused more disruption by potentially weakening two positions. 

Tedesco’s club, the Roosters, have significant clout on the media landscape so there have been plenty of counterpoints floated to Edwards getting the nod ahead of him, both in recent times and for the past couple of years. 

But the cold hard facts are that his form is nowhere near what it was when he was unquestionably the best fullback in the game four or five years ago. 

In last year’s Origin series he missed more tackles than he made, 7-6 – it’s hard to have a high tackle efficiency percentage as a fullback because a lot of your defensive work is in isolated, one on one situations. 

But that was the first time Tedesco’s rating in Origin had dipped below 66.67%. 

In attack, the question facing Maguire is whether he tries to get Tedesco as involved in passing the pill to the left or right flanks or whether he gets him to be a hole runner. 

Edwards’ strength with the ball in hand is his ability to create the space with his pace and send the Steeden to a centre, who often has to simply draw the outmatched final defender to present either Penrith winger with a stroll to the try line. 

He averaged 38 touches per game in the NRL this year whereas Tedesco sits at 30 with the Roosters

Tedesco actually edges Edwards for total try involvements at club level this season at 22-18 with only Drinkwater (23) ahead of him.

Blues lock Isaah Yeo said the team had confidence in Tedesco “knowing there’s someone who’s been there and done it, better than most on that stage”

“He’s been tremendous for NSW for a long time. It’s his 23rd game in a row, you don’t do that by chance, you do that by excelling in that jersey,” he told reporters on Monday. “It’s happened for Queensland before in previous years where they’ve had late withdrawals, so, come Wednesday night, there’s no excuses.”

Win or lose on Wednesday night, there will be calls for the Blues to tinker or downright overhaul their line-up, particularly with Moses back and Murray potentially available for selection as well. 

Even if he has an absolute blinder, Tedesco should see this match as the chance to bow out on a high note. 

His former Roosters teammate Mitchell Pearce got to sign off from Origin in perfect fashion when he subbed in for an injured Cleary in the 2019 series decider and played his part in the Blues’ memorable victory which was sealed in the final seconds by a try from none other than Tedesco.

Edwards is now the No.1 option for the NSW No.1 jersey and should finally make his debut in Origin II unless his thigh injury is much worse than first feared. 

Tedesco has an opportunity to prove that not being the first choice doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact, even with only a few days notice.