KEY POINTS:
Micheal Luck had been looking forward for some time to going to last Wednesday's third State of Origin match.
He had played in a couple of curtainraisers before, for the Queensland under-17s and under-19s, but both were in Sydney.
Wednesday was going to be his first taste of Origin football in Brisbane, though, when he was due to be among the 52,000 spectators along with his Warriors team-mates.
It's fair to say Luck got something of an upgrade and his late call-up to the Maroons as 18th man has electrified a player who already does a fair job imitating the Energiser Bunny.
It's Luck's action-packed game that has won him admirers, including Queensland selectors.
Heading into this weekend's games, he had made the second-most tackles (542) behind Craig Fitzgibbon (595) in the NRL. That's a lung-bursting 36 tackles a game.
Wednesday was a day that had started out normally enough for the 25-year-old Luck. He was among a handful of Warriors who took advantage of their time on the Gold Coast and went for a surf before training.
"They called us in for a meeting," Luck takes up, "and I just thought it would be about the game coming up. Ivan [Cleary] said that I had been called up by Queensland to be 18th man. It was a pretty big shock.
"It was pretty full-on after that.
"I quickly got changed and caught a cab up to Brisbane [one hour away]. Because we went to training straight after our surf, I still hadn't had a feed and I thought, 'jeez, I'm going to be struggling if I do have to play. It's probably not the best preparation, having a surf on the morning of a game'.
"It was all pretty special. It's something I've always dreamed about. I didn't play but I'm one step closer. It's good to know I'm in the firing line for selection and one day I might get rewarded with a real Maroons jersey. It was a good day."
As it turned out, Queensland could have done with Luck.
They lost Storm tyro Dallas Johnson in the first 10 seconds, when he was knocked out trying to make the first tackle of the match. Although
Johnson bravely returned for the second half, the Maroons missed the presence of a workhorse like Johnson or Luck and tired in the final 10 minutes.
"I felt a bit helpless [sitting on the bench] because blokes were dropping everywhere and there was nothing I could do," Luck says.
The second-rower clearly benefited from the Warriors being in camp on the Gold Coast ahead of last night's match, but his form this season meant he earned his selection.
Two years ago, Luck didn't know where his career was going. He was cut by North Queensland after five years, where he had played more than two-thirds of his 76 games for the Cowboys off the bench.
Since moving to the Warriors, he's played in every match, and is an important component of their side on and off the field.
"I think I've just found a role at the Warriors," he says. "I never really knew what I was doing at the Cowboys. I was playing off the bench, was a utility, and didn't really know what my job was. I know what it is here.
"The coaching staff have given me confidence because I don't feel threatened [over selection] every week."
His Queensland call-up has given him an extra spring in his already bouncy step as the season heads into the business end. If he continues to develop he might even attend a few more State of Origins - as a player.
