Former New South Wales pivot and premiership-winning Dragon Jamie Soward has rated Blues prop Glenn Lazarus among the top five State of Origin players he has seen alongside Wally Lewis, Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith and Andrew Johns.

Despite playing 19 games for NSW and 21 for Australia, Soward says Lazarus was an underrated player.

“I saw him (Lazarus) more towards the back-end of his career,” Soward told Triple M.

“Very underrated Origin player.

“I just think he was magnificent in that red jersey arena.”