To celebrate the resilience and lift the spirits of the Lismore Community, the NSW Blues State of Origin squad met with fans and trained at Lismore’s Oakes Oval this afternoon in a closed training session where school students got to meet their favourite players.

The Lismore App understands the session was closed due to concerns over the new COVID-19 Omicron variant BA4 and BA5 with strict testing measures in place when entering the ground.

The Blues are visiting to train in preparation for their Origin decider next week in Brisbane and were greeted by more than 1000 school children and their parents at Oakes Oval despite the cold and rainy conditions.

The crowd were treated with a surprise up close and personal greeting by their Blues heroes when the squad walked along the boundary fence to shake hands and sign autographs.

Lismore City Mayor Krieg said he was thankful for their visit in helping lift our community spirit.

"To visit our town a week out prior to an important decider is an enormous effort and our community is so grateful for it," he said.

"The huge attendance here today by so many school children is great to see, especially all the smiles on their faces."

Local students and their families who attended got to shake hands with their favourite origin players and wish them luck in next week’s game.

Kase, who was here with his family said he was overwhelmed with the visit.

“I got to hi-five Tom Trbojevic, he is my favourite player,” he said.

“It’s so good that they have come here for our community, it makes us happy.”

Richmond River High School students Harry and Jake, who were flood-affected, were excited all day about the visit.

“Our property got two metres of water through it from the February flood, and visits like this means so much to us,” Harry said.

“We’ve been excited all day and to see and meet the Blues is so exciting for us.”

Jake got to see his favourite player and said this is fantastic for our community.

“My favourite player is Jake To’o who was only a metre in front of me. I can’t believe it, this is exciting,” he said.

“It means a lot that they are here, it’s what our community needs.”

After meeting fans and signing autographs, The Blues went on to do a light training session much to the delight of the crowd.

The Blues will now travel to their training camp further North in Kingscliff in preparation for their Origin decider next week.