Newcastle coach Brian Smith says NSW rookie James McManus has the right temperament to rise to the challenge of State of Origin football.

McManus hasn't missed an NRL match for the Knights since debuting against the Bulldogs in 2007 and earned representative honours with NSW Country earlier this month in Orange.

Smith says the Scottish-born winger has shown throughout his NRL career that he possesses the aptitude to meet whatever challenge is thrown his way.

"It's early in his career but at this point he's shown in his personality and his performances that he's not been rattled by too much," Smith said of the 23-year-old.

"He's been a model of consistency and maintained pretty high performance levels.

"He's not missed a game since he came into first grade and that in itself shows he's got a tremendous capacity for aiming up week in and week out.

McManus is one of eight Blues players lining up for their Origin debut in next Wednesday's series opener in Melbourne.

McManus, along with fellow Origin debutants - Penrith flyer Michael Jennings and Canberra five-eighth Terry Campese - face the tough task of defusing Queensland's all-Test backline.

But Smith has faith McManus will again show his ability despite the Maroons' superstar line-up.

"Chances are this game will ask a bit more of him than he's been asked before but along the way he's been able to meet all those challenges almost without fail," he said.

Smith said McManus and Blues skipper Kurt Gidley were aware of their selections before Monday night's heavy NRL loss to North Queensland in Townsville when a team was leaked to the Ten Network's news.

Knights five-eighth Jarrod Mullen also learnt he had missed out on the No.6 jersey to Campese but Smith said the news wasn't a factor in the 36-10 loss to Cowboys.

He did admit announcing the NSW team at halftime in the match was less than ideal for him as a coach but there was little he could have done about it.

"Word got out before the game and I spoke to them but there was no big deal about that," he said.

"It's obviously less than desirable but it was just how it happened.

"I think they tried hard to come up with the best way but until someone comes up with a better suggestion I don't know if there's too much you can do about it."

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