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For Queensland, next Wednesday’s State of Origin dead rubber will be about trying to avoid their first 3-0 series loss since 2000.
The third match will be about trying to restore some pride to a team that has been hailed the greatest in of State of Origin history.
It was unfortunate that injuries struck the state at the worst time possible, when they were trying to complete a full decade of State of Origin dominance.
Cooper Cronk’s arm injury in the first ten minutes of Game 1 proved to be the catalyst. Although Daly Cherry-Evans did a reasonable job filling in for Cronk for most of the first match and all of the second, some will feel that he is partially to blame.
His partnership with Johnathan Thurston in the halves marked only the Maroons’ second different halves pairing since Darren Lockyer’s retirement at the end of 2011, and only the fifth different halves pairing since the Maroons’ dynasty started.
The Manly halfback has been retained for the dead rubber, but will drop back to the bench to make way for Cronk’s return, something that appeared improbable given the initial 12-week prognosis of the Storm halfback’s injury.
There are three other forced changes to the Maroons line-up. Will Chambers will be called up to make his State of Origin debut, replacing the injured (and presumably about to retire) Brent Tate on the wing, Jacob Lillyman will come off the bench to replace Matt Scott in the front row, and Corey Parker returns after missing Game 2, indirectly replacing the injured Chris McQueen. Sam Thaiday moves to the second row to make way for lock forward Parker. No player has been dropped.
Johnathan Thurston will line up for his 30th consecutive State of Origin match from debut, completing a full decade’s service on rugby league’s most demanding stage.
The Maroons haven’t lost a series in which they hosted two home games since 1996, but they were successful in preventing a Blues clean sweep the last time they had already lost a series entering Game 3. In 2003, the dead rubber match in Brisbane saw the Maroons unleash their anger in the best and most devastating way possible, thrashing New South Wales by a record-equalling margin of 30 points. Winger Matt Sing scored three tries, while debutant hooker Cameron Smith also crossed for a try in the 36-6 romp.
Eleven years on, the Maroons’ main motivation ahead of the dead rubber match is to win it for their fans, most of whom will want to leave Suncorp Stadium before Paul Gallen becomes the first NSW captain since Danny Buderus in 2005 to raise the Origin shield.
A Maroons victory in the final could prove to be the first stepping stone towards restoring order to State of Origin. It could even give them confidence entering the 2015 series, where they will want to bounce back.
The Maroons’ big four of Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, and to a lesser extent Corey Parker and Justin Hodges, are all in their 30s. Perhaps the lure of playing in another winning Origin series for Queensland will push them on for another year. Their main motivation could be to go out winners just like Darren Lockyer did in 2011.
Is it possible Queensland can salvage something out of this series and give their fans something to cheer about? Or will they become the first Queensland side since 2000 to be clean-swept?
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