Canberra Raiders great Mal Meninga backs NSW Blues' Hudson Young to bring 'X-factor' to State of Origin

Young will make his Origin debut for the NSW Blues in the series opener against the Queensland Maroons at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

Meninga told The Canberra Times last year he was surprised Young hadn't been in the mix to make his representative debut during last year's series.

Young had a breakout 2022, scoring 14 tries in 24 games - many of which were either last-gasp match-winners or crucial tries.

He's carried on with that try-scoring form, going at a rate of about one try every two games.

He so impressed Meninga the Australia coach named him in his extended World Cup squad last year, but he narrowly missed out on the final cut for the tournament in England.

Blues coach Brad Fittler has now named him to start in the second row.

Young's an unorthodox player, whose junior career in the halves has given him attacking kicking and skilful passing games on top of his raw power.

Meninga saw his off-the-cuff nature as a weapon.

"Moments win Origin and an ability to take advantage of those moments is really important and if you've got a player that sees that and can play off the cuff I think that's a bonus," he said.

"But probably more importantly his character, his aggression, his competitiveness, all those sort of things will come to the fore.

"That's the things you want to see out of an Origin player first and foremost, and then he can be an X-factor in a game too.

"He's not adverse to little kicks and things like that, which makes you dangerous."

Meninga said Origin was a stepping stone for higher honours.

Young was close to making his Kangaroos debut last year, but could do that at the end of this year instead.

Meninga expected the proposed Test series involving Australia, New Zealand and Samoa to go ahead after the NRL season.

And he expected Young to be in the mix for that as well - especially if he has a good Origin series for the Blues.

The Green Machine playing finals would also boost his chances and they've put themselves in the mix for that - winning six of their past seven games to climb to seventh on the ladder and just one win off top spot.

"I believe there's Test matches at the end of the year ... but he was in contention last year, didn't quite make it unfortunately," Meninga said.

"If he keeps playing the way he's playing, playing for NSW certainly helps [put] more attention on him and helps his opportunity to get into the Australian side.

"I see Origin as a stepping stone."

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Meninga backed Young to shine on the Origin stage. And he also expected that to benefit the Raiders when he returned - he's been named to back up just two days later against the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown on Friday night.

Young will be surrounded by stars in the NSW side - although that will be one less now following the loss of Latrell Mitchell (calf) to injury.

Meninga expected plenty of that star power to rub off on Young, who's known to be a student of the game - with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart even urging him to get a hobby to take his mind off football.

"He'll do well, mate. He's surrounded by great players and he's a great player himself," Meninga said.

"Origin just has a tendency to help you lift anyway. You never quite experience Origin until you experience it.

"It'll be an eye-opener for him, however, through that experience there's no doubt he'll be coming back a better player and the experience will certainly help his future too.

"It's a bit of a growth period for him."

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