Canterbury Bulldogs and New South Wales Blues star Stephen Crichton has suffered a potentially serious shoulder injury and is in significant doubt for the opening game of this year's State of Origin series.

The star centre, who suffered the injury during a Good Friday loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, will need scans to confirm the extent of the injury, but coach Cameron Ciraldo admitted it wasn't looking good.

If he needs surgery, Origin 1 is a pipe dream, and the rest of the series could be gone too. If he can rehabilitate the injury, he may be a chance of returning before Origin 1, but whether he would be thrown into that fire, lacking match fitness, is a decision for Laurie Daley to answer.

While there are plenty of candidates to assume the vacant spot in the centres, there is a clear favourite.

Assuming incumbents Brian To'o and Latrell Mitchell will be picked, and either Thomas Jenkins or Jacob Kiraz will win the race for the other wing spot, here are the players in the mix to line up in the centres if Crichton is unavailable for the opening game of the series when New South Wales will attempt to recapture the shield from Queensland after the dramatic failure of 2025.

7. Ethan Strange (Canberra Raiders)

Strange, picked for the Kangaroos' tour of England at the end of 2025, has been a revelation at the Canberra Raiders.

Granted, 2026 hasn't started with quite the same level of success as 2025, but then, the utility playing at five-eighth doesn't have Jamal Fogarty alongside him.

Regardless, that's not the position he'd be under consideration for come Origin time.

If the Blues are looking for a centre, they could do far worse than Strange. He has a brilliant running game, great footwork, tackles well, moves well laterally and has a great rugby league IQ.

If there is an injury in the halves, he can shuffle there too.

Even if he doesn't get picked in the centres - and it does look unlikely - there is probably a chance he is picked in the squad, whether six-man bench or reserves, somewhere.

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