NSW forward Greg Bird says every time he loses in State of Origin to Queensland, the fire inside him grows.
And packing down alongside Maroons stars Nate Myles and Ashley Harrison for their NRL club Gold Coast makes it almost impossible for him to escape the frustration.
Preparing for his 10th State of Origin match in Wednesday’s crunch game two at ANZ Stadium, Bird risks being part of a losing series campaign for a fifth time should the Maroons close out a seventh straight series.
Bird has been a shining light for NSW throughout the Maroons’ dynasty since his debut in 2007 – twice being named man-of-the-match.
But the reality is, despite being lauded as a player “made for Origin,” he has a 3-6 win-loss record to show for his nine match appearances in a Blues jersey.
And that hurts.
Workhorses Queensland forwards Myles and Harrison aren’t the types to rub in the Maroons’ successes at training, but they don’t need to.
In many departments, Bird has won on-field battles against Queensland but continually lost the war.
At 28 years of age, he’s desperate to break through and experience a State of Origin triumph for himself.
“Yeah, it burns and it grows every time, definitely,” Bird told AAP.
“You don’t talk about it at all (at training). It would get me too angry especially with the way we lost game one. I don’t really say too much.
“They’re (Myles and Harrison) quite quiet and humble about it at training but they don’t have to bring it up, they still know they’ve won six series in a row and I haven’t won any.
“They don’t have to say it for it to still be there.”
So close were NSW to winning game one in Melbourne, they’re the bookies favourites for the must-win home clash on Wednesday.
Bird is confident the Blues have the team that can end the Maroons’ reign, but says they’ll fail again if they think their performance at Etihad Stadium was good enough.
“We can’t go out there and play the way we did in game one, we’ve got to go out there and improve on that because if we play the same way we’ll get beat,” he said.
“We can’t just expect because we’re playing at home it’s going to happen. We’ve got to go out there and work hard for each other and do all the things right that we train to do.
“We’re only two wins away so what I’m worrying about is getting it (the elusive series win) this year and I’m definitely confident we’ve got the team to do it.”
Bird has always complimented the game of NSW captain Paul Gallen, but he’s pleased his third `bash brother’, Anthony Watmough, has been recalled for game two.
The Blues beat Queensland in the corresponding match in Sydney last year and Bird says Watmough was nearly the difference on that occasion.
“He knows what Origin is all about,” said Bird.
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