NSW pair James Maloney and Latrell Mitchell will start in State of Origin II after being cleared of their respective injuries by Blues medical staff on day one of camp on Sunday.
Sydney Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary was named in the 20-man squad as cover for Maloney, who picked up a back injury in Penrith’s loss to the Roosters on Friday but is expected to recover.
Mitchell also sent a scare through Roosters and Blues camps after being stretchered off in the same game with a neck injury, but scans also cleared him of serious damage.
Both players are likely to be on light duties over the start of the week before the game on Sunday.
“Speaking to the medical staff, everyone seems to be quite good. A few players mightn’t be able to run Monday and Tuesday, but outside that everyone should be right,” Fittler said on Sunday night.
He also said Mitchell was in good spirits despite his scary moment, which came after being accidentally squashed by a tackle from Blues teammate Nathan Cleary.
“I can’t imagine he should have much problem running, but we’ll definitely keep him out of any contact for a while. He’s in pretty good spirits, he just said it was a pretty big scare at the time,” Fittler said.
The health check means Fittler is only left with the decision on who replaces injured prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard (broken jaw), with Ryan James and Matt Prior brought in from outside the game-one squad.
Fittler said he hadn’t set himself a deadline to make a call, but did shower James with praise after he left out for the Melbourne clash.
“From the time I rang him at the last game and said he didn’t need to come, (when) he had a plane organised and thought he was coming down, the way he handled that and the way he handled the interview after the (Gold Coast game against Canterbury), I thought was terrific,” Fittler said.
“That in itself just shows how much he wants to be here. He’s really enjoyed the fact that we can bring him into camp. I think over the next couple of days, we’ll narrow it down to 17.
“I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to going out and showing us what he’s going to do.”
NSW 20-man squad for game two: Josh Addo-Carr, Nathan Cleary, Damien Cook, Boyd Cordner (capt), Angus Crichton, Jack de Belin, Tyson Frizell, Ryan James, Luke Keary, David Klemmer, James Maloney, Latrell Mitchell, Tyrone Peachey, Matt Prior, James Roberts, Tariq Sims, James Tedesco, Jake Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic, Paul Vaughan.