The pair are the only survivors from that 2008 contest. The Blues would have had much more experience to call on, but for the withdrawals of captain Paul Gallen and winger-fullback Jarryd Hayne, who also played in that decider.

''It was a great game, a great game of football,'' Hoffman recalled of the Blues' last Origin decider in Sydney. ''It was very even, and Queensland just got over us in the last few minutes. We were very close that series. We're in a similar position now.'' Similar, but not the same. In 2008, the Blues won game one at ANZ Stadium, before being ambushed in Brisbane in game two. Sound familiar? Yet Hoffman, who played all three matches of 2008 - his last Origin series before this one - still maintained the 30-0 defeat in game two of that year was very different to the 26-6 result at Suncorp Stadium three weeks ago. ''I see it a bit different,'' Hoffman said. ''In '08, we got completely blown off the park. I don't think of us as being completely blown off the park in game two [this year].

''We got beaten by a very good football side … but there were some opportunities for us to put points on the board. We didn't capitalise on those efforts.

''At the start of the game, our defence - even though we were under a lot of pressure - held up quite well. We were under a helluva lot of pressure - some of the worst pressure I've been under on a footy field - and we managed to hold them out a few times. In 2008, we were just blown off the park. They scored a couple of long-range tries, and we really had no answers.''

What the 2008 decider rams home to Hoffman is the need for the Blues to be wary of Queensland's ability to win from anywhere, at any time. In the '08 decider, the match-winning play came with 12 minutes remaining, when Johnathan Thurston's dummy split Brett White and Pearce, before the halfback sent Billy Slater over to clinch a 16-10 win.

''It just shows,'' Hoffman said. ''That game, we had one defensive lapse, and there goes the series.

''That one moment in an Origin game can be the series. You've got to be focused on every moment of the game. You can't afford to have a lapse. You can maybe afford to have a defensive lapse in club football, but in Origin, the players are too good. They're 34 of the best footballers. They're going to take the opportunity if you give it to them.''

Pearce believes he will be better for his run of successes - and failures - since. He freely admits to not being ready in 2008, when he was called into Craig Bellamy's squad following an injury to Peter Wallace.

''It was my first game,'' Pearce said. ''I just got thrown in there. It was pretty nerve-wracking. I think it was pretty even, but they scored right near the end. It was all a bit of a blur, came out of the blue.

''It was all a bit frantic. I was too young, to be honest, at the time. But you're not going to say no. It was just how it was. You get thrown in, you've got to do your best. You're young, you just come in and just go, 'I'll give it a crack.'

''You don't really understand the culture of it all. That's what I've learnt the last couple of years, around how much goes into it. That's why it means so much more now. It meant so much back then, don't get me wrong - I was that proud. But once you're around it more, you become a lot more attached to it.''

Hoffman, too, is a different player. The Melbourne forward has been to Wigan and back since then, and is in the best form of his career. ''I never gave up,'' he said. ''I knew I wanted to keep on playing Origin. When I came back to Australia, I came back for two reasons; I wanted to win more premierships, and I wanted to play more rep football.'' He won a premiership with the Storm last season, and has resumed his representative career. But his footballing bucket list isn't complete. A State of Origin series win remains out of reach; come Wednesday night in the decider, his time may come.