CANBERRA Raiders centre Joel Monaghan says he won't be giving State of Origin selection any thought until it actually happens, despite a standout performance for NSW Country during its 40-18 loss to City in Orange on Friday night.
Monaghan responded to his axing from the Australian team with an outstanding performance against City.
He ran a game-high 155m with the ball, made three line breaks and was easily the best winger on the field.
The result aside, it was the perfect way to bounce back from losing his place in the Australian team, which avenged last year's World Cup defeat to New Zealand with a 38-10 win in the Anzac Test on Friday.
But despite a big game and the fact he is NSW's incumbent winger having made his debut in game three last year Monaghan said he wasn't looking ahead to Origin I on May5.
''I spent three or four weeks thinking about it with the Australian team and it didn't work out, so this time over I'm just going to let things happen and see how it goes,'' Monaghan said.
''It didn't affect me during playing or anything like that, I just thought about it a bit away from the games.
''After not getting named [for Australia] I was a bit disappointed, it just hits home that it's out of your hands.
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