Dale Finucane is "made for the Origin arena" according to Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who has also backed Josh Addo-Carr's chances of lining up for NSW.
Finucane has steadily rose up the representative ranks from a shadow Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues player last year to one of the Storm's senior men.
He's a wonderful player, Dale, he'd be made for the Origin arena and hopefully he gets that chance this year.
Craig Bellamy
As NSW coach Brad Fittler looks to build a new breed of players, the 26-year-old lock is primed to take a role in his first interstate series.
Bellamy was full of praise for the quietly-spoken forward.
"He does a wonderful job each and every week," Bellamy said of Finucane.
"He's one of our most consistent players [and] it's always a high level of consistency.
"He's a wonderful player, Dale, he'd be made for the Origin arena and hopefully he gets that chance this year."
Melbourne winger Josh Addo-Carr, who had a career-best 2017, needs to continue his improvement but is capable of playing representative football as well, according to Bellamy.
"I think he could play Origin without a doubt," he said.
"[In] the first couple of weeks he probably needs more involvement. But all know what he can do when he gets an opportunity.
"Whether Freddy has got him on the radar or not – he probably has – but he'll need to play well, because they'd be a fair few wingers in Freddy's frame at the moment."
A more immediate issue for the Melbourne coach is beating the Sharks, who have won three of the last five clashes between the sides.
Matching the Sharks' experienced pack looms as a prerequisite for the Storm to win only their third win in the last six against Cronulla.
Bellamy praised his forward pack as the team's strength so far in 2018 but knows they'll have their work cut out for them on Friday night at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
"Obviously [Paul] Gallen, [Luke] Lewis, [Wade] Graham, [Andrew] Fifita – they've all played Origin," Bellamy said.
"They're all really good players, really experienced players, all won a premiership. They certainly throw a challenge out at any forward pack they come up against."
The Storm have opted to give second-rower Felise Kaufusi another week to recover from a hamstring injury, and he looks set to return next week against the Wests Tigers.
