When it comes to young stars in rugby league, there is always one warning that follows them around.
“Don't rush them!”
Fans have seen it happen too many times before. A talented local junior gets thrown into first grade too early, confidence gets shattered under the weight of expectation, and suddenly the player everyone once labelled “the future” quietly fades away before ever really arriving.
That fear only intensifies on rugby league's biggest stage.
State of Origin does not care how old you are, how talented you are or how highly regarded your junior résumé might be. One poor performance can stick with a player forever. Some debutants never get another chance.
But then there is the one per cent of players who seem untouched by all of it.
The ones built for the moment before they even realise it themselves.
On Wednesday night, two players officially announced themselves as part of that group and, ironically, neither was really expected to play a major role.
After NSW's comeback victory, I headed down into the sheds to speak to players post-match, and despite a dressing room filled with experienced representative stars, two names kept coming up over and over again.
Ethan Strange and Casey McLean.
Both youngsters were initially viewed as depth selections, beneficiaries of a six-man bench that allowed Laurie Daley to carry more specialist cover.
Then everything changed 42 hours before kickoff when Mitchell Moses went down injured.
Suddenly, Strange was no longer just a cover.
The 21-year-old was NSW's starting five-eighth in a State of Origin opener.
And yet, somehow, he looked completely at home.
Strange only debuted in the NRL late in 2023 and has barely ticked past 50 first-grade games, but there has always been something different about him.
Even in junior representative football, coaches trusted him in moments others would shy away from. During an Under-19s NSW Blues clash, he was shifted into the centres despite barely playing there previously, simply because those around him believed he could handle it.
He responded with a hat-trick and man of the match honours.
Last season, he became a key piece of Canberra's minor premiership-winning side, and many inside the club still wonder what their finals campaign may have looked like had illness not ruled him out.
Still, Origin is a completely different conversation.
It is faster, louder and far less forgiving.
Yet Strange carried himself like someone who had already been there before.
Like someone who belonged in that one per cent.
There was one word repeatedly used by his teammates when speaking about him afterwards.
Unfazed.
“Not much fazes him (Strange), to be honest,” James Tedesco said post-match.
“We just told him to be himself, he is a strong ball runner, and that's what he did, every time he carried it he was pretty hard to tackle.”
“It was tough losing Mitch, but Strangey coming in and preparing like he was going to play all week, he was in and out in different positions, so happy for him, he is a great kid.”
That calmness is not something you can teach.
You either naturally have the ability to slow the game down around you, or you do not.
Strange has it.
What stood out most was not just his composure, but the confidence he played with physically. He constantly squared up against some of the game's biggest forwards, attacked the line without hesitation and immediately earned the trust of Nathan Cleary around him.
That is the difference with the one per cent. The occasion speeds everyone else up, but somehow slows down for them.
“You'd rather not have that happen two days out from the game, but I thought if there was a player to do it, it would be Ethan,” Isaah Yeo said.
“Nothing seems to overawe him. I just feel like the way we were able to adapt to that and the different style, it makes me very proud.”
“He is ridiculously strong, confident, and I don't know him well enough, but nothing seems to faze him.”
“He is just one of those players where less is more. The more simple you keep it, just allows him to attack the game, and he did that tonight.”
As impressive as Strange was, there was another debutant quietly producing his own statement performance.
If Strange looked comfortable, McLean looked fearless.
“I thought his (Casey McLean) first touch really summed his character up,” Yeo said of his Panthers teammate.
“Casey was there to do a job. For a young kid, he is going to be something special,” Tedesco added.
Before kickoff, McLean honestly looked the least likely player on the bench to see meaningful minutes.
Then the game exploded open.
Kalyn Ponga's high shot on Tolu Koula resulted in both a send-off and a failed HIA, throwing McLean directly into the contest.
What followed felt like a glimpse into the future of the Blues' backline.
His first involvement came underneath a towering high ball, and instead of easing himself into the match, McLean attacked it, won the contest and burst through the line immediately after.
That is another trait the one per cent seem to share. They do not wait for the game to come to them; they drag themselves into it.
The moment also perfectly summed up the confidence Penrith seem to harness and grow in their young players.
McLean only turned 20 this year and has barely played 40 NRL games since debuting midway through the 2024 season.
Yet there he was in Origin, playing out of position on the wing, a role even his own coach has admitted is not naturally his, looking like he belonged there all along.
And maybe the most impressive part of all is that neither he nor Strange seems fully aware of how big the moment actually was.
“It was cool cause I had front row seats to it”, McLean said with a grin when reflecting on Tedesco's match-winning try.
The smile almost said more than the words themself.
He just sounded like a kid soaking in the experience of playing alongside stars he grew up idolising, completely unaware of how important he had already become in the game itself.
Strange carried that same energy after full-time.
“I just wanted to go out there and try as hard as I could,” he told me.
Well, he did exactly that.
And if Wednesday night proved anything, it is that NSW's future is bright.
