St John's junior Isaah Yeo will play for NSW in game one of the State of Origin series

The St John's junior has been named to start at lock in game one of the series at Adelaide Oval, one of six Penrith Panthers picked in the 19-man squad.

Based on his form for NSW in the past and regular brilliance at Penrith, Yeo was arguably one of Fittler's easiest decisions, with the Panthers again at the top of the ladder through the opening 11 rounds of the NRL season.

Speaking to the media on Monday morning, Blues centre Tom Trbojevic said the squad isn't lacking motivation ahead of the series opener.

"It's three of the biggest games in rugby league calendar," he said.

"We all love representing our state and NSW, we all want to win."

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Yeo is joined in the squad by Temora's Liam Martin, the only two Western products who have been picked.

Fittler joined the Today Show on Monday to officially name his side and said the side is eager to get back to Adelaide having played there once in 2020.

"The shame is the last time we played there it was during COVID," he said.

"We flew in, went to the game and then went back to an airport then flew out so no one got to feel the vibe of Adelaide.

"A lot of these blokes wouldn't have been down there before, I'm very excited.

"I know how close the ground is to the city and what it means to the city, I want to make sure the players go in understanding about it and what it means to the people."

Yeo will have regular teammates Jarome Luai, Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin and Brian To'o joining him in sky blue while Penrith centre Stephen Crichton joined the squad as the 18th man.

The group will train together over the next week before heading to Adelaide to take on QLD, less than a year after the Maroons won back the State of Origin Shield.

The first State of Origin match will be played on May 31.

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