Blues coach Ricky Stuart had initially hoped to stick with the same 17-man squad that suffered a gallant 16-12 loss to Queensland in the series opener in Brisbane 11 days ago.
But injuries have forced his hand and Stuart on Sunday made five personnel changes.
Hopoate, son of former New South Wales and Australian Test winger John Hopoate, replaces the injured Michael Jennings in the centres, having only played 14 NRL first grade games since debuting in round 13 last year.
"He's a young boy, he's an extremely talented gifted footballer and it'll be exciting for him. I've spoken to his coach and he has all the confidence in the world for him in handling this opportunity he's going to gain," Stuart said.
"I think it's exciting for Will, he's been playing a lot of left edge as well, he's been playing a bit of centre, winger he's also been playing a little bit of full-back."
Along with Hopoate, Parramatta superstar Jarryd Hayne has won a recall, replacing injured St George Illawarra winger Brett Morris.
Newcastle captain Kurt Gidley, Manly back-rower Anthony Watmough and Penrith utility Luke Lewis are the three new faces on the bench.
Stuart may have to make one more change with Canberra full-back Josh Dugan in doubt after he left the field with an ankle injury in the first half of his side's NRL loss to North Queensland on Sunday.
Also out of team go props Jason King and Kade Snowden and utility Dean Young.
Captain Paul Gallen has been named to start as prop with Ben Creagh in the second row.
"Unfortunately it's disappointing for three of those boys, the three who weren't considered - Jennings, Morris and Snowden - through injuries," Stuart said.
"It's disappointing for those players but it gives another number of players an opportunity to come in and carry on from where we've left off.
"I think we've taken a big step forward in the last game and we need to take another step in regards to what we've already created."
Although he has a grand design to build a Blues team for present and future Origin dominance, Stuart said he had no concerns selecting Hopoate despite the 19-year-old's decision to quit football at the end of the season to undertake a Mormon mission for two years.
"I've got no idea what Will's doing in the future, I haven't spoken to him about that yet really it's not my business to ... be concerned on what he's doing with his religion," he said.
"I've got to look at the immediate and that's now - we've had a lot of problems on our left edge as I've spoken about and the media have spoken about over the last four to six weeks ever since [Tigers centre] Chrissy Lawrence went down injured.
"We've had a number of players go down, a lot of our depth has been taken away from us in regards to injury in those left positions."
NSW: Josh Dugan, Jarryd Hayne, Will Hopoate, Mark Gasnier, Akuila Uate, Jamie Soward, Mitchell Pearce, Paul Gallen (capt), Michael Ennis, Tim Mannah, Beau Scott, Ben Creagh, Greg Bird. Interchange: Trent Merrin, Kurt Gidley, Anthony Watmough, Luke Lewis.
-ABC/AAP
Tags: sport, rugby-league, state-of-origin, australia, nsw, sydney-2000 First posted June 5, 2011 17:20:00
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