Holmes is one of eight players who won't be considered for Queensland selection this year for breaking curfew at an Emerging Origin camp, but it hasn't stopped the Maroons brains trust keeping tabs on the 20-year-old.

An apologetic Holmes said he is a "better person" for enduring the pre-season drama, which was sparked when he was fined for jumping a queue at a Brisbane taxi rank in the early hours of the morning and confronting a driver when told to get out of a taxi.

Queensland Rugby League chairman Peter Betros accused the players of "not understanding the value of a State of Origin jersey" with some – such as Anthony Milford and Dylan Napa – tipped to earn their first State of Origin jumpers this year.

But Walters has reached out to Holmes during his enigmatic start to the season with the Sharks, who take on Canberra in the nation's capital on Sunday.

"I told him [Walters] straight away," Holmes said of his intention to force his way into the all-conquering Queensland squad in 2017. "He knows that and he calls me every now and then to keep an eye on me and see how I'm travelling. I always tell him that I'm stoked for next year.

"I've learnt a lot from it. I'm sure the boys that it also happened to have learnt a big lesson as well from what we did. It's made me a better person and I can't wait for next year.

"It gives me that extra year to get better, put on a bit more weight and gain a bit more experience and at that Origin level you have to be a bigger, stronger and wiser. You need those qualities at that level to play against those type of athletes."

The Townsville-born Holmes was in late 2014 caught in the middle of a trans-Tasman tug of war for his services as the then 19-year-old was named in the Junior Kangaroos side, then a day later he was listed in New Zealand's Four Nations train-on squad.

Holmes eventually pledged his allegiance to Queensland, and has made no secret of his desire to crack the senior squad in the near future.

"That's always been a dream of mine since I was young," Holmes said. "To have the chance to play alongside someone like Thurston, if he's sticking around ... it would be awesome to get that chance.

"They've had such a good run for nine or 10 years and it would be so good to get amongst it.

"But as soon as [the curfew drama] all happened my main focus was the Sharks. Hopefully we can go a lot further than what we did last year. [Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan] just told me to learn from it and keep your head up and move on."

Winless in the first month of last season, the Sharks can continue to build a fantastic platform with a fourth straight win on Sunday.

They have traditionally played well at GIO Stadium, winning three of their last four there with last year's one-point win iced by a Holmes field goal.

"It was the first thing we spoke about at the start of the season ... trying to get off to a good start," Holmes said. "Round one wasn't where we wanted to be, but we turned that around in round two.

"We've trained really well and had a good pre-season with a good start to the year. I'm excited for the rest of the games to come."