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The NSW team will become the first team since the Australian Olympic Games squad in 2000 to use a tunnel to enter ANZ Stadium for Origin III.

NSW will make a grand entrance to State of Origin III, treading in the footsteps of Australia's Olympic Games team at Sydney 2000.

Boyd Cordner will become the first captain to lead a sports team down an underground tunnel into ANZ Stadium since flag bearer Andrew Gaze led the Australians into the arena for the opening ceremony 19 years ago.

The Blues on Thursday confirmed their team will make the three-minute walk from the NSWRL headquarters into the south-east corner of the venue on July 10.

"It'll be cool, it'll be different," Cordner told AAP.

"I haven't been down there yet. I've only been up here in the training rooms. But I know there's a lot of history on the walls along the way.

"It'll be cool having that moment between us just going out before a big crowd. I'm going to have to come up with something special."

On one side of the tunnel is a list of every Blues representative in Origin history, while the other honours the NSWRL Hall of Fame.

At the end of the passage is a homage to Cathy Freeman and Michael Johnson, both of whom won Olympic gold in the 400-metres at the Sydney Olympics.

The big screens at the stadium will show the players emerge from the dressing room and through the tunnel, before the run out in front of the Blatchys Blues fan base.

"It will be an historic night for players and fans as NSW aims to defend the Shield it won last year," NSWRL chief executive David Trodden said.

"The addition of the Centre of Excellence and tunnel access to ANZ Stadium has made our house an even more formidable force to tackle Queensland."

The Blues continue preparations with a training run at Coogee Oval on Friday.