Campbell Graham was "pinching myself every day" during Blues camp in the lead-up to Origin I and paid close attention to Tom Trbojevic's roving performance.
With the Blues beating the Maroons 50-6, an injury appears Graham's only hope of cracking the team for game two but the Rabbitohs centre was stoked to be able to study the game's best.
"It was unreal. It was a huge learning experience for myself, just training with the calibre of players that were in the squad," he said.
"I was pinching myself every day when we were training, just being in that Origin environment. The whole game and the whole week was an extremely positive experience and I feel like I took a lot out of it.
"Preparation, mindset and just the way you approach training. Just having a clearer mind and really getting back to the basics of footy. What Origin footy's built on is just kicking long and chasing hard."
Graham pays tribute to Cordner
There wasn't so much a piece of advice that Graham took away with him, but he soaked up Trbojevic's display at centre.
"Seeing how he took it upon himself to go looking for the ball a bit more, popping up on all parts of the field, I think that's a real way to revolutionise the way the centre position's played," he said.
"He's done it before in Origin. He's just so good at it. That's something that I could take a bit out of," the 22-year-old added.
As for whether Graham could employ a similar approach for South Sydney, he said: "I'd have to take it up with Wayne [Bennett] first.
"But you saw how effective it was in Origin I and I wouldn't be surprised if teams started adapting that approach of having a bit more movement from their outside backs in their attacking shapes."
After a 24-10 win over the Knights, the Rabbitohs will face coach Bennett's former team the Broncos in Brisbane on Thursday.
Graham said the team were pleased with their defensive starch against Newcastle but needed to improve their handling.
"We've been leaking too many points for a top-four team, so I feel like we defended our try-line really well," he said.
"They had a lot of time spent down on our try-line but they only came away with two tries for the whole game, which was pretty pleasing.
"Our completion rate was way down so that's something we've got to pick up on. It's just about putting them both together."
