How a player handles pressure defines their career.
In rugby league, there's a particular kind of pressure reserved for players who are constantly measured against ghosts of the game's past.
Few carry that kind of weight like Nathan Cleary heading into this year's series decider.
Cleary arrives at Suncorp Stadium carrying a record that tells its own uncomfortable story.
The Blues halfback is 0-3 in series deciders and 9-10 in the interstate arena across a career that's otherwise decorated with major success at club level.
Cleary prepares for what may well be the defining match of his Origin career, and NSW great Geoff Toovey told NRL.com he has issued a simple, direct challenge: "Attack the line."
Behind a beaten forward pack in Game 2, Cleary and five-eighth Mitch Moses found precious little room to move, and it's that struggle that Toovey wants addressed before the halves run out again on Wednesday.
"I'd like to see Nathan and Mitchell attack the line more and run the ball," Toovey said.
"Both are similar players, but they've got it in their game to run the ball.
"They didn't have the opportunity to do that in Game Two. With the way the game played out, it's hard to criticise them or look too much into that, but I hope they use their attacking skills to create opportunities for the players around them."
The scar tissue from Origin deciders runs deeper than just this year.
In 2025, NSW slumped to a 20-0 deficit at halftime before eventually going down 24-12, a bitter conclusion to the series after the Blues won the first game.
The Blues would lose Game 2 in Perth and the decider on home soil.
It's the kind of defeat that lingers, and those close to Cleary know he doesn't need outside voices to remind him of it.
If anything, he's typically harder on himself than anyone watching from the outside.
Adding another layer of pressure is a comparison Cleary has never been able to shake, that of Newcastle and NSW great Andrew Johns.
To be spoken of in the same breath as a rugby league Immortal is, on its face, the highest of compliments.
The expectation has also set an impossible bar; a night has since become the measuring stick for every NSW playmaker who's followed, forged at Suncorp back in 2005, when Johns produced one of the iconic individual Origin performances of all time to steer the Blues to a decider win at Suncorp.
The 1996 Wally Lewis Medallist believes the comparison is tough on any player, but also acknowledges that Wednesday's outcome will inevitably shape how Cleary's own Origin career is remembered.
"He's used to pressure," Toovey said.
"He's been in multiple grand finals; I don't think pressure worries him. From what I've seen in the past, he's a cool, collected individual.
"He's won four grand finals; he knows his way around the park when the pressure is on. I'd like to see them attack a bit more and with confidence.
"Nathan and Mitch both have that in spades, and I'm expecting to see that in Game Three.
"It's hard to compare eras; they're different times, but Nathan can make millions of NSW fans very happy by putting his best foot forward and having a great game."
Whatever unfolds at Suncorp in Game 3, one thing is clear: for Cleary, this is more than just another game of football.
Wednesday night becomes a chance to rewrite a narrative that has followed him for years.
“Attack the line” is easy to say, but not as easy to do.
It’s not like Nathan has never thought of it, but when the forwards are being beaten, the halves find it difficult to get the time and space to attack.