Blues coach Laurie Daley says he is shattered for Wade Graham, whose one-match suspension has robbed him of an Origin debut next Wednesday.
Daley believes the rules around the NRL judiciary need to be looked at given the disproportionate penalties paid by players who miss big games like Origins and finals for grade one offences.
"I think that we do need to look at minor offences and whether people miss big games. Grand finals and Origins, they don't happen all the time. Who knows, Wade may never get another chance to play Origin."
While Daley certainly isn't putting a line through Graham's Origin career – the popular Cronulla back-rower will return to Blues camp and see out the week's training if he chooses to – circumstances may come into play.
For example, if the Blues win Game Two and Frizell plays well Daley is likely to go with an unchanged side for Game Three and by the start of the next series Graham could be injured, suspended, out of form or superseded by the myriad of up and coming back-rowers the state has to choose from.
"It's a boyhood dream of Wade's to play Origin and he finally got his opportunity but it's a hard one to take for him. For us it's just about moving on and supporting him, but also supporting Tyson now that he comes into the team," Daley said.
"He's a guy that has been in our system for the last two seasons, so he's been 18th man three or four times… he was with us in camp one so he knows our systems. He'll be up to speed."
Daley said he wasn't yet sure if Frizell would be a like for like replacement for Graham or whether he would start from the bench with Greg Bird moved into the starting side on an edge.
Daley also said while Game Two development player Bryce Cartwright was considered, Frizell's time with the squad over the past two years counted in his favour.
"We obviously considered Bryce but I think at this point Tyson was the man that we wanted to go with because he's been with us for two years as 18th man and he deserves a crack and that's the idea of getting guys like 'Birdy' [Jack Bird] and Bryce into the squad now is to give them a bit of a taste of what it's like so when their opportunity comes they're not shocked and overawed, they know the guys and the systems in place and for me that's the better way of doing it rather than just throwing them straight out there.
"That may be wrong but I still feel like we have to protect these players because it's a tough game and you don't want to put them in before they're ready, you want to put them in when you know they're ready."
Daley said he had already spoken to Graham, who was understandably disappointed.
"He's extremely disappointed but as you'd expect he handled himself with dignity and class. I spoke to Tyson. He's excited to be coming in, obviously disappointed that he missed out in the first place which is what you want. It' a great opportunity for him to have a crack."
Asked what he had told Graham, he added: "I think you've got to keep your chin up and hopefully you get another opportunity and another chance. He's playing well enough. I just feel personally sad for him that after speaking to him and knowing how much it means to him, this is all he ever wanted to do is pull on a Blues shirt.
"He's quite passionate and he's very disappointed but they're the rules and we'll move on.
"I thought the case was a pretty strong one. But again I'm not on the panel so I'm not quite sure how it all played out but we can't dwell on that now, it's a matter of going forward and getting the job done."
