IF JOEL Monaghan has learnt anything in the past six weeks it's not to count your chickens before the eggs have hatched.
That's the attitude the Canberra Raiders centre will take as he waits for NSW selectors to announce their team for State of Origin II tomorrow.
A serious ankle injury to Newcastle winger James McManus sustained on Friday night has opened the door for Monaghan to return to the NSW side for Wednesday week's clash with Queensland at ANZ Stadium.
With NSW centres Jamie Lyon (ankle) and Michael Jennings (calf and thumb) also under injury clouds, Monaghan is likely to return to the Blues' fold, having made his Origin debut last season and represented Australia in every game of its 2008 World Cup campaign.
But having already been left out of Australian and NSW teams this season, Monaghan said he wasn't getting excited yet.
He just wanted to have a good game against Cronulla today and then see what happened.
''Over the last month to six weeks I've had my hopes up for a few rep teams,'' Monaghan said.
''It hasn't worked out that way, but there's only one thing I can control and that's play a good game.
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