NSW has banished any chat about the 2017 State of Origin capitulation against Queensland in Sydney as Brad Fittler's new Blues look to make sure history doesn't repeat itself on Sunday night at ANZ Stadium.

Only six players from game two in 2017 survived Fittler's axe as part of his Blues revamp, and his radical makeover of the side was vindicated in game one when NSW ran out 22-12 winners at a heaving Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Their star players shone as Queensland were swept aside, and now NSW are raging favourites to secure just their second series win since 2005. Sound familiar?

You'd be forgiven for feeling a twinge of deja vu, although the vastly different looking side of 2018 only includes captain Boyd Cordner, Tyson Frizell, James Tedesco, James Maloney, David Klemmer and Jake Trbojevic, who are still dealing with the heartbreak of last year.

NSW led 16-6 midway through the second half and looked on track to end Queensland's Origin dominance before Dane Gagai struck twice.

"It's never easy, you've got to be playing for that 80 minutes," Frizell said. "We played so well for that first half and just little moments in the second half that let us down. Then the series was gone.

"There's no need to worry about what's happened in the past. The past is the past and it's a whole new look squad.  With that brings a different way that we play, a different culture and a different mindset.

"We want to start from this year and build something new and it all starts this week, we've ticked one box we've still got another one to go."

The Blues enjoyed a light training run on Wednesday, barely on the sodden Coogee Oval for half an hour before Fittler decided he'd seen enough.

They had a much harder session on Tuesday and will be frenetically put through their paces again on Thursday before a rest day.

A captain's run on Saturday will then top the squad off ahead of their chance to bring the Origin shield back to Sydney.

"It's just preparation pretty much, it just comes down to that, there's not much more you can do," Frizell said. "You try and do everything that you can to put yourself in the best position to perform on the night but at the end of the day it does come down to how you put that 80 minutes together. There are not too many boys who have tasted or known what's happened in the past so I guess it's a good thing.

"For us players that have played there, we know we can't let it slide and can't let the decider go up to Brisbane. You can't take anything out of game one, it has to be a brand new start again.

"We can't be worrying about the good things that you did in game one, you've got to be even better in game two."