Edrick Lee preparing for Origin debut for the Maroons in Suncorp decider

Lee, who played just 11 games for the Knights this year after breaking his arm for a third time during the season, is poised to make his Maroons debut in front of a full house at Suncorp Stadium as a late replacement for injured winger Xavier Coates.

Coates succumbed to a groin injury yesterday with the tall, lanky Lee to be handed the task of marking inform Blues winger and aerial expert Daniel Tupou.

Lee's inclusion is one of a host of changes to the Maroons squad from Origin II with coach Wayne Bennett set to debut four players in the decider.

South Sydney's Corey Allan and Harry Grant had already been selected to make their Origin debuts with Bennett confirming that centre Brenko Lee would also make his first Maroons' appearance.

Lee, who missed games one and two with a calf strain, will play centre with Kurt Capewell shifting to the back row and Jaydn Su'A dropping to the interchange bench. Game two debutant Dumanis Lui misses out after originally being named in Queensland's 17.

Bennett confirmed Allan will play at fullback with Valentine Holmes to move to the wing in a bid to nullify the influence of Blues star Josh Addo-Carr, who has scored back-to-back doubles in this year's series.

"It's obviously a big test but he answered all those for the last two years at Souths with how he's come and played on the wing," Bennett said of Allan's debut in the No.1 jersey.

"He wasn't a winger. We made him play there and he handled it well. He came in at fullback after Latrell (Mitchell) got injured and did a great job for us there.

"He's as good an option as we've got considering the couple of injuries we've got. He's confident and I'm confident in him."

Queensland five-eighth Cameron Munster is a certain starter despite suffering a severe concussion in the opening minutes of game two. Munster has passed all of his concussion protocols since then and will line up in the No.6 jersey against the Blues. The Melbourne playmaker's inclusion is a big plus for the Maroons, who felt his absence after he was taken off the field just three minutes into last week's 34-10 loss to the Blues in Sydney.

"He's one of the top three players in the team," Bennett said. "There's no doubt about that. We missed him a lot and pleased we've got him back."

Queensland will have to defy history to win the series, with no Origin team rebounding from conceding 30 points in a match to claim the shield.

Bennett said his young team had shown in their game one performance they had the ability to beat NSW, it was just a matter of being mentally up to the task.

"That's the key to it. We got it right in Adelaide in the second half there," he said.

WITH AAP

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

IN THE NEWS: