'Lessons to be learned': Blues bank on change to reverse concerning trend

Long viewed as one of the most freakish athletes in the NRL, Haas continues to reinforce that reputation by producing performances few players can even come close to matching. 

The front rower played the full 80 minutes and ran for a mammoth 281 metres in his comeback match from injury a fortnight ago. He then backed it up with another 80-minute performance against the Titans last week.

Haas will reprise his successful starting combination with Mitch Barnett, with the pair laying the foundation for a Game One win at Suncorp Stadium last year before Barnett ruptured his ACL playing for the Warriors a few days later. 

Addin Fonua-Blake shifts to the bench and will look to build on their platform when injected into the contest midway through the first half. 

Despite played with and against Haas on multiple occasions, NSW skipper Isaah Yeo remains stunned by what the prop is capable of on the field. 

"The way he's come back after that injury, there's not many people that can come out and do what he did," Yeo said. "He played 80 minutes off the back of not playing for six weeks. I don't think the average person understands how hard that is. 

"That can take middles two or three weeks to find their feet and particularly their lungs. He just came out and did it, not a drama in the world, and made a huge impact. Any side he's in, he makes it better so it's nice to have him back."

The Blues made five errors in the opening 22 minutes of Game One to gift the Maroons possession and field position. 

Billy Slater's side gladly took advantage and ran in three tries before a Sam Walker penalty goal made it 20-0 to silence a shell-shocked crowd at Accor Stadium. 

It was a similar story in Game Three last year, when Queensland jumped out to a 20-0 lead at half-time to lay the platform for an emotional victory in Sydney. A few weeks earlier in Perth, the Maroons led 26-6 at the break before holding off a furious Blues rally to level the series.

While they pulled off the historic comeback in Game One, Yeo doesn't have to look too far to know how costly a slow start can be and knows his side must be on from the opening whistle at the MCG on Wednesday night.

"There were some uncharacteristic errors in Game One, which you hope won't happen again but you can't be putting yourself on the back foot in that arena and with the intensity of the game," Yeo said. 

"You want to be able to talk about the slow starts but you don't want to make too much of an emphasis on it because you don't want players to clam up and not be confident with how they play. 

"There's certainly lessons to be learned on both sides, whether you win or lose. I'd much prefer to be learning them 1-0 up than 1-nil down, but we certainly need to be better."

A record crowd is set to pack into the MCG for Game Two of the State of Origin series. Tickets are selling fast, so click here to secure your seats before they sell out.