Willie Mason says NSW don't need to hate Queensland, but they've got to find some form of motivation that results in the Blues finally beating the Maroons in a State of Origin series.
Embarrassed and sick of losing after successive series defeats, Mason doesn't care what his NSW teammates use to inspire themselves, as long as it prevents Queensland claiming their first hat-trick of series wins since 1989.
"We want to win. I don't really care how it happens, but I just want to win the series. I don't want to lose, that is motivation enough," said Mason.
"We've got a lot to play for. A lot of pride to play for. We've been beaten in two series and it hurts.
"There is no better feeling than actually winning an Origin game. It's not just being a part of it, when you win it it is something special and no one can take that away from you.
"It sucks to lose. I'm pretty sick of it and I'm going to do everything I can to get out there and do my best for NSW and win the series back.
"It's about winning. It's embarrassing, we need to win."
NSW lock Paul Gallen had inflamed interstate relations when he claimed his hatred for Queensland was "1000 times" greater than the Maroons' dislike for NSW.
While Mason was happy Gallen had "taken the pressure off me" by making himself a target, he supported his backrow partner's view but at the same time didn't want to steal Queensland's hatred theme.
"They hate us," said Mason when asked if he hated Queensland.
"I speak to Nate Myles outside of camp and I ask him what the camp is like and that kind of stuff and he said `we fing hate you c-words'.
"That is Queensland's motivation for 27 years, we hate NSW. We need to find our own motivation.
"It's not like we get told to love Queenslanders ... I don't usually like people that hate me.
"It's an individual thing, but as a team and collective group there is 17 of us that have to get a job done and our motivation isn't hate, that is theirs.
"There's a lot of things, a lot of emotion you can bring into games but we've got our motives as well. It's not hate, that's Queensland. We're NSW, we don't need to copy them."
Fear of failure could be one form of motivation for the Blues.
Mason revealed he had a genuine fear of not only another series defeat, but the dreaded possibility of a 3-0 series sweep by the star-studded Queenslanders.
"They're a great side. There's nothing between us and you could easily lose the series three-nil if things don't go your way," he said.
"That's why this first game is so important to us.
"If we win this first game we will take a lot of confidence going up to Suncorp to beat them (in Origin II)."
But fellow second-rower Ryan Hoffman has called for a calm approach to NSW's Origin campaign, declaring 2008 a clean slate for the current squad.
"I don't think we're desperate. It's a new series, what has happened the last couple years has happened," said Hoffman.
"This is the 2008 State of Origin series and this is the 2008 team, it's a different team to last year and a different team to five years ago.
"We don't feel desperate in any way shape or form, we're just looking forward to putting in a good performance.
"That is what we want to do and that is what we pride ourselves on."
