Queensland star Billy Slater will miss game one of the State of Origin series against New South Wales due to a hamstring injury.
Slater, who will retire from representative duty after the series, was ruled out on Monday.
Advertisement
The 34-year-old Storm star said he was not ready to play in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"I didn't pull up as well as I would have liked after our training run on Sunday, and because I'm not 100 per cent, it's in my best interests as well as the team's to withdraw from Wednesday's game," Slater said in a statement.
The Brisbane Broncos' Anthony Milford and Newcastle Knights' Kalyn Ponga will join the Maroons squad in Melbourne later on Monday.
Maroons coach Kevin Walters said his team had prepared for the possible absence of Slater.
"We knew we had some concerns with Billy, but he's a champion player and we needed to give him every chance to play," he said.
"We've had plans in place to cover Billy if he didn't come up right, and we've actioned that today with Anthony and Kalyn coming in."
The injury is a huge blow for Queensland, who have won the past three series and 11 of the previous 12.