Fittler has pinned his faith in embattled halfback Nathan Cleary to lead the Blues at Suncorp Stadium, but his problems were only exaggerated when Frizell came off worse for wear after a head clash with ex-teammate Josh Dugan on Sunday.

He had already lost a slew of halves contenders to injury including Luke Keary in the final round before Origin selection and Fittler sat on the sideline in shock as Frizell reeled out of first-half collision.

Keary (concussion) had been ruled out a day earlier after a sickening head knock in the Roosters' loss to the Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The Dragons-Sharks clash was the last of the round before Fittler announced his NSW team, prompting the coach to visit the St George Illawarra sheds at half-time of the Red V's 22-9 loss to Cronulla.

Fittler will hand a first NSW jumper to five rookies - Cody Walker, Nick Cotric, Payne Haas, Jack Wighton and Cameron Murray - just a year after blooding a record 11 players in the opening game of last year's series.

Cleary will partner South Sydney's Walker in the halves after Keary, Mitchell Pearce (groin) and Adam Reynolds (leg) were all injured during the weekend's round.

Reynolds was cleared of a lower leg fracture on Sunday, but NSW selectors were comfortable to give Cleary the nod at No.7.

The 21-year-old has been from his best this season for the struggling Panthers, but produced a man of the match display in Penrith's turgid win over the Eels last Thursday night. It was just Penrith's third win of the season.

The host of 11th hour withdrawals weren't enough for Cleary's halves partner James Maloney to preserve his place, falling down the pecking order behind Keary and Walker. It means Cleary will form an unlikely halves tandem with Walker when the Blues march into Suncorp Stadium on June 5.

Maloney, James Roberts, Tariq Sims and Tyrone Peachey were all axed from the side that played for the Blues in game three last year.

Jack de Belin is unavailable after being sidelined under the NRL's no-fault stand-down rule as he faces an aggravated sexual assault charge. He has pleaded not guilty.

Fittler's stress-free build-up to last year's series hasn't been replicated in 2019 with a host of incumbents struggling for form before a nightmare weekend on the injury front which ended with the Frizell scare.

"He's up and about," Dragons coach Paul McGregor said. "He was up and about at half-time, but he was in no state to go back on. He looks OK.

"Tyson hasn't finished many games for us this year. He had a couple of those serious injuries early and he hasn't been able to complete a full 80 minutes which is unfortunate. It's come at a bad time with Origin just around the corner."

Josh Morris, 32, earned a recall after last playing Origin in 2016.

NSW Blues squad: 1. James Tedesco, 2. Josh Addo-Carr, 3. Latrell Mitchell, 4. Josh Morris, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. David Klemmer, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Boyd Cordner, 12. Tyson Frizell, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Jack Wighton, 15. Payne Haas, 16. Angus Crichton, 17. Cameron Murray.