It's time. Time for Queensland to decide, once and for all, whether they want to be in the Daly Cherry-Evans business or not.
They've bought a little of his product in the past, but they have never invested totally, and, meanwhile, time has flown, as it tends to do.
"DCE", as he is known in the trade, is now 28. He'll be 29 in February. Surely, if Queensland don't pick him in their side for State of Origin III against NSW at Suncorp Stadium on July 12, it will be a clear indication that they don't ever intend going back to that store.
Particularly when you consider the current circumstances, with Johnathan Thurston's Origin career over because of injury and the Maroons needing not only a genuine man of the moment for a series-deciding match but also someone who can help take them into the future.
Don't forget, the likelihood at this stage is that veteran Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk will retire altogether at the end of the year. Thurston will play one more season with North Queensland, but had previously announced this year would be his last in representative football.
I've previously written that Queensland should bring Melbourne's Cameron Munster in for five-eighth Thurston, but the strong mail from north of the border in the last week is that Munster will instead replace the injured Darius Boyd at left centre.
That would be a good choice as well because it would leave Dane Gagai, who has been great for the Maroons on the wing, out there rather than have him move one in to where his questionable defence could be exposed.
So it's a matter of whether to promote Thurston's halves partner at the Cowboys, Michael Morgan, from the Queensland bench to starting five-eighth or leave him on the bench and bring someone else in as starter.
The latter makes more sense, since Morgan has utility value that enables him to cover not only the halves, but fullback and centre as well. He has been important for the Maroons there.
If the Maroons leave Morgan on the bench, than those in the running to start would presumably be Manly's Cherry-Evans, Brisbane's Ben Hunt and Parramatta's Corey Norman.
But, when it comes to the crunch, surely they wouldn't consider handing Norman his Origin debut in a massive game like this.
You may ask, and reasonably enough, what's the difference between Norman making his Origin debut in one of the key positions in the spine or Munster doing the same, as I would have had?
My answer would be that, as brilliant a player as Norman is at his best, he can still be up and down with his form, while Munster has been hugely consistent since entering first grade at the Storm.
Plus, Munster has the advantage of having played regularly alongside the other three players who fill those spine positions for the Storm and Queensland - Cronk, fullback Billy Slater and hooker Cameron Smith.
Hunt has played three Tests, back in 2014 when the end-of-season Australian team was decimated by injury, but is yet to play Origin and he was recently out of favour for a couple of weeks at the Broncos before coming back in off the bench last weekend.
Cherry-Evans, meanwhile, is in great form at halfback for Manly. He has been the key figure in their unexpected rise to the top four in the NRL. He has both Origin (six games) and Test-match (11 games) experience. He is a vastly-experienced footballer who is at the top of his game.
The talk for the last couple of years is that Cherry-Evans didn't fit the Queensland Origin mould because of his different personality, and so has been on the outer. Maroons types deny the rumours, but, really, none of that should matter now.
They've got to try to win a football game and in the search for a new player in the halves he appeals as their best option.