Who would fill the considerable shoes of Jarryd Hayne following his heroics in last year’s series was one of the biggest headaches for coach Laurie Daley who once left Dugan out of a NSW camp do to attitude problems. Dugan repaid Daley’s faith scoring the match-winning try in Origin II and running for a combined 408 metres across the three games.

“It’s a big honour for me, I never really thought I’d be in this spot again,” Dugan said.

“You do take it for granted sometimes and I definitely was guilty of that. To lose it and get it all back and be around now I’m really thankful.

“Being able to take that second opportunity and run with it...it’s been a good journey. I think it’s probably the best season I’ve had and I’m looking forward to building on that next year.”