With Origin fast approaching and having profiled their NSW counterparts last week, we thought we would take a look at which Queensland stars from 2018 are in danger of losing their Origin jersey.

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1. Gavin Cooper

At the not so tender age of 33 and having endured a slow start to the season much like his Cowboys teammates, Maroons back-rower Gavin Cooper is well and truly in the firing line.

While Cooper has never been renowned for having stupendous output in terms of running metres, he has clearly been tailing off since the Cowboys 2015 premiership. Since 2015, his average running metres per game have dropped yearly from 120 to 95 to 85 to 72 and they have dropped once again this year to 68 in their six rounds.

Cooper has also already missed 13 tackles for the year, almost a third of the 44 he missed over the entire 2018 season.

With his legendary partner in crime Jonathan Thurston having hung up the boots at the conclusion of 2018, Cooper doesn't look nearly as dangerous as he has in previous seasons.

With young tyros Coen Hess, David Fifita, Felise Kaufusi and Jaydn Su'A all progressing well, combined with the return of Maroons stalwart Matt Gillett returning from injury, Gavin Cooper's grip on the Maroons' number 11 jersey is slipping.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 11: Gavin Cooper of Queensland offloads during game three of the State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues at Suncorp Stadium on July 11, 2018 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
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