New South Wales Blues

Walker and Rabbitohs teammates Damien Cook and Cameron Murray, along with Canberra duo Jack Wighton and Nick Cotric, were selected on Sunday after their teams were eliminated from the NRL’s finals series over the weekend.

The South Sydney five-eighth was dropped after his debut in Origin I last year but Blues coach Brad Fittler recently indicated he was a fair chance of leapfrogging Roosters pivot Luke Keary in the race to replace James Maloney in the NSW No.6 jersey.

"Cody Walker - he's been awesome, absolutely awesome," Fittler said.

Meninga was the architect behind the Maroons' past decade of dominance and in his new role as the Kangaroos coach found himself a guest of Blues counterpart Laurie Daley at ANZ Stadium. 

Meninga was quite forthcoming when discussing how crucial his presence was in terms of picking future Kangaroos teams. 

James Tamou, Blake Ferguson, the injured Josh Dugan and Blues skipper Paul Gallen were the only New South Welshman named for Australia in the trans-Tasman Test against New Zealand earlier this month.