Valentine Holmes has the unenviable task of filling the legendary boots of Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith when he takes over the goalkicking for Queensland in this year's State of Origin series.
The Kangaroos star was yesterday chosen ahead of veteran Darius Boyd and survived a serious push from Corey Oates to be the left wing for game one on June 6.
His ability to kick goals was undoubtedly a factor but the Cronulla flyer admits the responsibility will come with some pressure given he's not even first-choice at club level.
"It'd be a bit nerve-racking. I don't even goal kick for my club," Holmes said. "But me and Chad [Townsend] always have competitions every training day. It's not going to be a new thing to me. I used to goal-kick last year when Jimmy [Maloney] was out. If they asked me to do it, if I'm there, I'll definitely try and kick them all."
Thurston exited the Origin arena with an impressive 80 per cent strike rate, knocking over 99 of 124 attempts in his 37 appearances for the state.
