Cam McInnes is one of the NRL's true roughnecks but the Cronulla hardman has a different definition of toughness than most ahead of his State of Origin debut.

It's not spilling blood every time he trains and plays, although McInnes does do that. It's not playing without a row of front teeth, although he does that as well.

It's not even coming back from a knee injury that wiped out a whole season amid a club and positional switch when a New South Wales jersey seemed in the offing even though, you guessed it, that's exactly what happened to McInnes.

"Everyone who plays in the NRL and especially in this environment, you have to have that physical toughness," McInnes said.

"You have to be able to run through a brick wall or stand in front of someone running straight at you. That's tough, of course it is, but it's more about doing your job over and over again no matter what.

"The teams who stick at it for the longest, that's toughness. Attention to detail, that's toughness to me."

Sticking at it is something the newly minted Blues lock knows plenty about. At 30, he's a little older than most Origin debutants but his entry into the game's toughest arena has been a long time coming.

McInnes is the kind of player who's bigger than his stats, although he's got some impressive ones if you're that way inclined – he broke the NRL record for tackles in match when he made 81 in a single game last year.

He lives a hard life on the field, going into battles with the giants in the middle of the field because somebody has to and while things like toughness, commitment and resilience are just words for other people, they're a way of life for McInnes.

In short, he does the kind of things people talk about when they say someone is made for Origin, the things that turn players like Reuben Cotter and Lindsay Collins into folk heroes.

McInnes has come close a couple of times before, especially during the COVID affected series in 2020 when he was part of the wider New South Wales squad.

He was a hit with the Blues coaching staff with his attitude and professionalism during camp – so much that assistant coach and now Cronulla mentor Craig Fitzgibbon told him that no matter where Fitzgibbon ended up coaching in the NRL, he'd sign McInnes.

He came close to his debut, acting as 18th man for the series opener and would have been in the frame the following season if not for a knee injury over the summer that ruled him out for the year.

Since then he's changed clubs, heading from the Dragons to the Sharks, and moved positions from hooker to lock. Any chance of playing Origin football seemingly vanished, or at the very least went right on the backburner.