A little over a year ago Brisbane Broncos winger Corey Oates was at "rock bottom" and consigned to running around for Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup.

Fast forward 12 months and Oates is back playing State of Origin for the Maroons in Wednesday night's decider.

Oates and Tom Dearden have been called into Billy Slater's gameday 17 after Murray Taulagi and Cameron Munster tested positive for COVID-19.

The road back to this point for Oates, who last played for the Maroons in 2019, has been long.

He began 2021 playing for Souths - a Broncos feeder club - and was seemingly on his way out of Brisbane.

But after aborting a switch to the back-row, the 27-year-old winger has recaptured his place in the Queensland set-up and his love for the game.

"My head wasn't in the right place," he said.

I've got a lot of people to thank for that and I never thought this (an Origin recall) was ever a possibility.

"There's a lot of people that played a small part in getting me back to enjoying footy let alone regular first grade. I wasn't enjoying it and it was a massive wake-up call.

"I couldn't have been happier going back to the club that I went to, 에그벳 Souths Logan.

"It took me a long time to listen, until I got close to hitting rock bottom.

"I thank (Brisbane coach) Kevvie (Walters) because he was trying to save me and (help me) be the player everyone knew I could be."

Oates, who has 14 tries in 15 games for the Broncos this season, will slot on the left wing with Valentine Holmes alongside him in the centres.

The pair have plenty of Origin experience but are untested as a centre-wing combination with Oates highlighting the importance of communication as the Maroons bid to win the series on home soil.

"It (the Suncorp crowd) gives me chills," he said.

"You cannot hear anythin

/>You just have to rely on trust.

"You can probably just hear the bloke next to you and that's why communication is such a massive thing."