He knows he will be the object of scorn if he fails in Origin III, but Braith Anasta is not planning on that. He is planning to dominate, writes Andrew Webster.

Erin McNaught has dropped boyfriend and NSW five-eighth Braith Anasta on the eve of the biggest match of his career. But relax, headline writers - it's for one night only.

"I'm hosting a State of Origin party for Bite Me Burgers in Bondi so I can't be there," she chuckles. "It was arranged three or four months ago and I can't get out of it. It's probably a good thing: I've been going to pieces at games lately. A nervous wreck."

It matters not that the former Miss Universe contestant won't be there when Anasta steps onto ANZ Stadium for the deciding State of Origin match on Wednesday night. Because, as Anasta explains it, she is one of the key reasons he is revelling in life, on and off the field. And why, as those around him suggest, Anasta is in the best possible head space to attack the career-defining game looming large on the horizon.

"We're both happy with the way the relationship's going," Anasta says. "It's only a year-and-a-half and it's all been rosy. We're like any normal couple … I'm happy with how a lot of things are going.

"I've settled down a lot. I haven't been to a nightclub for eight months and I'm enjoying it. I'm not off the piss or anything like that. And it's not like I was a mad drinker or had a problem. I just don't find myself drinking much. I've got a good relationship. I've got a very good family and friends who are behind me 100 per cent. Right now, there's nothing to complain about."

It's a rare moment for a player whose career has been a constant and endless source of speculation and debate over his ability, despite his achievements.

While Andrew Johns returned from the World Cup in 2001 and couldn't stop shaking his head about the raw skill of the teenage kid Chris Anderson had decided to take on tour, others remained obsessed with knocking Anasta down.

In their eyes, there is no grey area when it comes to Braith Anasta. On Wednesday night, in the State of Origin decider, he will tear onto ANZ Stadium like Genghis Khan and finally bury the doubt that has followed him like a shadow.

Or he'll blow it and Blues officials will have to helicopter him out of the place while those NSW fans with painted faces and blue wigs wait so long outside the stadium with pitchforks they will miss the last train to Central.

NSW coach Craig Bellamy snapped when the Herald dared to suggest during the week that, should his side fail, the daggers would be unfairly directed at his new No.6. "Not from me, not from his teammates," Bellamy snorted. "From you."

This week, Anasta has seemed oblivious to the expectation and his life away from football is the reason. McNaught has been a positive influence. Anasta has long talked about the tight circle of family and friends he surrounds himself with, but there's no coincidence his rise has come at the same time as Brad Fittler's elevation to coach at the Roosters.

"There's no denying he has had a huge influence on me," Anasta says. "He deserves a lot of the credit for my game. Obviously, we get along well, on and off the field. We talk about everything. It might sound a bit strong saying he's a father figure. He's someone I can talk to about anything. And I mean anything. He backs me."

Anasta needs those strong influences. He has talked openly in the past about the death of his father, Peter, who committed suicide on December 30, 1997.

"Braith needed someone like Freddy in his life for a long time," explains Anasta's mother, Kim, who struggles with the adverse criticism regularly directed at her son. "He likes someone to be straight up with him. Brad does that."

You sense Fittler identified the best way to unlock Anasta was to show faith in him, something others haven't always done. Something the NSW selectors did not do for the first two games of this series.

When Fittler handed him the captaincy in the absence of back-rower Craig Fitzgibbon, it not only gave Anasta a view of his future role as leader of the club but also illuminated the respect he has within it.

"At the Bulldogs in 2004, Steve Folkes gave me the captaincy while Steve Price was out in 2004," he says. "I captained every time he wasn't there. When Pricey was injured before the grand final, Folkesy gave the captaincy to Andrew Ryan. That cut me pretty deep. I've never talked about that. That added to me thinking I didn't have that respect at that club."

Anasta is under no illusion about how important this match is in the context of his representative future. In some respects, he is at the same juncture of his career Manly's Cliff Lyons faced: dominating at club level, never quite nailing it for state or country. "I haven't dominated at Origin," Anasta concedes. "This is my chance."

And Anasta insists he is prepared for the scorn that will probably be heaped on him should NSW fail.

"Tommy Raudonikis and Ben Elias hammered me last year when NSW lost and this year they've come out and said I should be there for game three," Anasta says. "That actually is reassuring to me because it makes me wonder if you can take any of the criticism seriously."

But McNaught knows deep down, the barbs sometimes still hurt. "For me, if I read or hear things about myself, I take it to heart," she says. "Over time, I've developed a bit of a thick skin. Sometimes, a little comment here or there pierces that skin. I think that's what happens with Braith sometimes."

Anasta's developed a thick hide out of necessity during his tumultuous journey. Yet he approaches this game not fearing the result of this match or what it could mean.

"I have all intentions of it being successful," he says. "If I don't do a good job, if I don't do the job for NSW, if I let down the people who picked me, I'll put my hand up and say I haven't performed. But I'm not going to be feeling sorry for myself."

Then again, why would he? "When you're taking out Miss Australia," Fittler smiles, "you should have all the confidence in the world."