When Wellington High School teacher Robert Dimmick lined up against a young Kotoni Staggs in a staff-versus-students touch football match, it wasn’t a contest for long.

"It was like I'd take one step and he'd take 40 steps sideways. He was something else," Mr Dimmick recalls.

While a senior rugby league career wasn't quite on the cards for the agricultural teacher, it was pretty evident there was one ahead for the teenager Staggs.

After a lone game for the Blues in 2022, the rugged centre returns for the first 2026 State of Origin match at Sydney’s Accor Stadium; one of seven NSW public school alumni to make the squad.

"Always a natural athlete; a bit of a lad sometimes but a regular at school events and a likeable kid," added Mr Dimmick.

"In a small town of about 5,000 and a community like ours it's something we can shout from the rooftops. Whether it's sport or other areas, the school does a lot to work with students to help them find their pathway and show their abilities."

Another small town, Wingham, has produced another Blue in Mitch Barnett. Current principal Paul Ivers had just arrived at the school when Barnett was in his senior year and says the general consensus was of an outstanding sportsman and great team person who had a strong desire to achieve his goals.

In Sydney, the opportunities may have seemed more plentiful but there was still work to be done.

Backline pair, Brian To'o and Stephen Crichton, created an unshakeable bond after spending their formative years together at Rooty Hill High School.

The duo joined Penrith as they began one of the more dominant periods in the NRL before Crichton linked up with the Bulldogs, but they'll both run out as proud Blues on Wednesday night against Queensland.

"We still have the photo in the hall of Brian perfecting his vertical dive to score a try; we hope that he gets lots of chances to do that again in State of Origin," Rooty Hill High School Principal Christine Cawsey said.

Perhaps not as likely to figure on the try-scoring sheets, hooker Reece Robson will nonetheless also be a key player for the Blues.

A standout footballer at Endeavour Sports High School, Robson played for the Australian Schoolboys during his time at the famed Shire rugby league nursery.

He'd followed in the footsteps of another renowned hooker at the school, Damien Cook, who went on to a six-year Blues career.

Endeavour Sports High School will feature in the lead-up match to Origin, playing against St Gregory's Campbelltown in the Peter Mullholland Cup.

The Shire school has been one of the top performers in the open boys’ showpiece competition in the past 25 years, having won three-straight national titles from 2004-06 before taking out a fourth crown in 2014.

Joining those five are power forward Haumole Olakau'atu (Arthur Phillip High School, Parramatta) and five-eighth Ethan Strange (Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College, The Entrance) the latter to make his Origin debut.

NSW public school alumni featuring in State of Origin I: Brian To'o (Rooty Hill High School) Stephen Crichton (Rooty Hill High School) Kotoni Staggs (Wellington High School) Reece Robson (Endeavour Sports High School) Mitch Barnett (Wingham High School) Haumole Olakau'atu (Arthur Phillip High School, Parramatta) Ethan Strange (Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College, The Entrance)