THEY have stood across the ruck from each other for 13 State of Origin matches now, rarely fixing eyes but acutely aware of their rivalry and responsibility, one man having what the other wants.

Tonight, for the first time, the two hookers, NSW's Danny Buderus and Queensland's Cam Smith, will oppose each other as captains of their states. Smith has won every gong the game has to offer - Dally M, Golden Boot, Wally Lewis, Ron McAuliffe - except the Clive Churchill Medal as best-and-fairest player in a grand final. It's not as if Buderus has won the Churchill Medal either, although, like Smith, he has a premiership and been on winning Australian teams.

But the Newcastle hooker has been captain of a series-winning Origin team, the only team and individual honour to elude Smith.

Buderus, who led the Blues the most recent time NSW won (2005), will leave the Knights to play in England at the end of this season, meaning his only realistic hope of frustrating Smith's ambition to fill the remaining holes on his Melbourne mantle piece is to win this year's series, beginning at ANZ Stadium tonight. The score in their 13 Origin encounters is Smith 7, Buderus 6. "I didn't know that record," admits Smith, while conceding he was aware of the other. "Yes, he's done that, been captain of a winning series."

Unspoken are the strange vectors and currents which rule the rugby league world and deliver unexpected goals: Buderus retained the 2005 NSW captaincy, despite his Newcastle teammate, Andrew Johns, being recalled after a loss in Origin I to steer the Blues to victory.

Smith assumed the Queensland role from Darren Lockyer whose knee injury this month is expected to rule him out of the series.

"That would be a special moment, to hold up the State of Origin shield," Smith agreed. "It would be especially nice this year because it's against Danny Buderus. That's not rubbing it in. It's just that it would be a good achievement against him."

The pair have set records with a quiet grace that has been very professorial, almost priestly. Their verbal hand grenades across the ruck have lacked the explosiveness of the Benny Elias- Steve Walters vitriol but there have been words, all the same.

"There have been a couple of expletives thrown, a few quick little jabs," Smith says. "It's mainly more when we come into contact with each other. I get hold of him in a tackle or vice versa. It's usually something about the score or what you think he should be doing better."

When it comes to statistics, not much separates them. Take this year's average game time: Buderus 78.7 minutes, Smith 77.5; tries Buderus 1, Smith 0; line breaks, Buderus 3, Smith 1; tackles per game Buderus 33.9, Smith 38.8; runs per game Buderus 6.4, Smith 7.2; handles per game 92.9, 106.

There are a couple of stats where that relentless tackler called age has caught up with the 30-year-old Buderus compared to the 24-year-old Smith: tackle breaks Buderus 11, Smith 26; metres per game Buderus 66.4, Smith 75.5. However, it is kicking where the major disparity occurs; goals Buderus 0, Smith 23; kicks Buderus 3, Smith 30.

NSW coach Craig Bellamy, Smith's NRL coach, is a huge Buderus fan, telling selectors that past NSW scorelines would have been more lopsided had "Bedsy" not been on the field. However, if Bellamy has one criticism, it's Buderus's past, almost certainly wishing someone had taught Buderus to kick at an early age. Smith's left foot kicks from dummy half have already revolutionised the skill of hooker, the one position on a football field which has already undergone more change than any over the past 100 years.

You'd like to know where Smith came from, where to find the biscuit cutter, except the answer is easy: Logan Valley, in Brisbane's blue-collar district, a talent overlooked by the Broncos. Buderus is a Taree lad, more easily identified but whose kicking skills weren't advanced by sharing the pitch with the sublime Johns.

Both were born without the quit gene, except when fatherhood was imminent. Buderus surrendered his position of hooker in the Australian team to attend the birth of his first child, handing the jumper to Smith, while Smith forfeited the opportunity to lead the Storm against Leeds in the World Club Challenge match in February in order to be present at the birth of his first child.

"It was bad timing for him," Smith says. "He stood down from the Tri Nations and then he had trouble with injuries the following year. I certainly wasn't going to hand him the jersey back because he sat out. It doesn't matter how you get the jersey. The important thing is to hold onto it."

A lot of life for an NRL hooker is Kabuki theatre, the same polished routines over and over. Buderus's responsibility is greater because the NSW game plan will depend more on him than Smith, whose back line is world class.Only one kilogram and a few centimetres separate them, yet neither is physically imposing. Smith is nicknamed "the accountant" by Storm teammates because his performance in the weights room equates with a pen pusher.

Yet each has the computer-quick mind of the best accountant, the ability to constantly process information from the other side of the ruck that no one else sees. They are less athlete than artist. Tonight, one will find his flow and become united with the ball and, before the other realises, the game will be his. Their duel is the classic game within the game.