Don't let the brave faces fool you - this week's State of Origin rejects are hurting badly, writes Glenn Jackson.

When players look back on State of Origin, it's all red mist over the eyes, brawls, bonding nights and big fat bruises. Terry Lamb recalls his - fairly brief - Origin moments a little differently. "Baa" just remembers the "big" and the "fat".

"Me and David Gillespie used to be reserves a lot and we'd go into camp and put on five kilos," the former Bulldogs five-eighth says. "We didn't actually play too much rugby league on game day."

Lamb played seven State of Origins for NSW. But when you cook it all down, like a veal schnitzel, there's a little less than you started with. Three of those appearances came from the bench - in the days when the interchange was something very different. A fill-in, mostly - at halfback, five-eighth, hooker, centre, and on one occasion about 15 minutes on the wing.

"What do wingers say?" Lamb says. "The sideline is your best friend? Well I was up against Les Kiss, and I showed him the sideline - he took it."

Lamb remains one of the greatest five-eighths the game has produced. The only problem was, during his career with Canterbury through the 1980s, Brett Kenny, a player of equal footing, and probably marginally better footwork, was stepping and striding on the same fields.

"Put it this way," Lamb says. "He probably just played a little better against Wally Lewis. That was the difference. But I'm just thankful for playing that many."

And so history repeats, sort of. Braith Anasta, the Sydney Roosters five-eighth, was this week likened to Lamb by one NSW selector after missing out on the Blues side for Origin I next Wednesday.

But Kenny didn't keep him out, and Wally Lewis isn't in the opposing side. A lock - Greg Bird - has kept Anasta out of his 10th sky blue jersey, while a fullback in Karmichael Hunt will line up in Maroon.

Anasta is one of four players considered desperately unlucky to miss out on state selection who have had to put aside their disappointment to play tonight, in what must feel like being forced to date Miss Piggy after being rejected by Miss Universe.

Parramatta Stadium will resemble a reject shop, with Anasta opposing Eels Brett Finch and Nathan Hindmarsh. Gold Coast halfback Scott Prince will probably still be cursing the late Ron McAuliffe for ever promoting the Origin concept when he leads the Titans out against the Bulldogs.

Yesterday, Anasta was confused. Not about his omission - he had been told he had missed out even before the headlines in Monday's papers made it clearer to everyone else. Just about whether he was ever destined for sky blue again.

"Origin's not even in the calculations, mate," he said. "I'm out of there [for game one]. My number one [priority] is holding up that [NRL] trophy. That's it. There's no point even worrying about it.

"You understand what it's all about. It really doesn't matter how good a [brand of] football you're playing. It's who they want for the job. I'm happy with the way I'm playing. It's out of my control.

"All I can do is keep playing well. Who knows? I don't. You can't change things that you don't control. There's a touch of disappointment. But life goes on."

As it does for Finch, the experienced Eels half who was overlooked in favour of a rookie in the shape of Brisbane's Peter Wallace.

"You're over that a half-hour after the team's picked," Finch says. "It's all part of the game, it's all part of your career. You have highs and lows. You always hope, when your name's tossed up, that you get picked. If you're not, you deal with it and get on with it. There's nothing to be dirty on.

"It would have been great to be picked in the team, but it's a long series, and you never know what can happen. The good thing from my point of view is we've got a real important game against the Roosters, probably our most important game of the year.

"You're not out there to prove any points. You want to play well to win for your club."

And let's face it, it could be worse. You could be Mario Fenech. Fenech, the former South Sydney hooker, was forced to wait a rugby league eternity before he was let loose on a State of Origin paddock. In 1989, eight years after debuting for the Rabbitohs, he did the same for NSW after coach Jack Gibson demanded his selection.

"It broke my heart," Fenech said. "It hurts you. I was absolutely filthy. No one's a better judge than you are, and many times I felt I was the man to be picked. I was disappointed because I was not well thought of by the selectors - I came across as a bit of a wild man. But you can't beat them. And you find out what sort of person you are. My dad used to tell me when I was a young kid. I used to get called a wog, and dad said to me, 'The best way to do talking is with actions'. That's what I did.

"I'm fortunate. I've lived the dream. I know what it tastes like, and if it's not one of the toughest sports in the world, then I'm not here. It's everything I imagined and more. It's mad."

Even one date with Miss Universe is better than none. Just ask Lamb, who has put on a few more than those five kilos since he stopped playing and has given some of his jumpers to his kids and others to charity.

But he has kept one. "I have got Les Kiss's jumper," he said.