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Let's not overstate the 'greatness' of Queensland's Maroons

Roar Guru
16th July, 2015
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Luck doesn't play a part in State of Origin selection . (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Roar Guru
16th July, 2015
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1603 Reads

In the week or so that has passed since NSW were granted field level seats to witness Queensland put on a rugby league clinic at Suncorp Stadium, an awful lot has been said about just how incredible this Queensland side are.

I listen to the odd bit of Triple M, and the likes of Paul Kent, Ray Warren and Matty Johns have all said their fair share on just what an incredible team this Queensland side is.

Now, after winning 9 out of 10 series, it’s hard to argue this is a great Queensland side, but the effusive praise they’ve received has occasionally bordered on the ridiculous.

Take Triple M’s Grill Team in Sydney. The question was posed at one point how this Maroons side would first do against the Wallabies, and then against the All Blacks.

Now, without getting into the nitty gritty of rule differences etc, on a class and skill basis you’d probably say this Queensland side would beat the currently sixth ranked Wallabies side, if in some alternate universe they were playing the same game.

But forget about the All Blacks. Yes, Queensland have some great players that will be future immortals and they have been incredibly dominant over the past ten years against New South Wales. But let’s not forget that we’re talking about a Blues side that hasn’t fielded a genuinely world class half since the retirement of Andrew Johns.

In the past two series we’ve seen the difference a good half can make at the elite level. Without Cronk steadying the ship, the mighty Maroons appear far more mortal than they otherwise have.

Moreover, NSW have still managed to win an average of a game per series in this period of Maroons dominance.

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Finally, for the past ten years the Kangaroos have largely (and rightly) featured a Maroons spine, yet the mighty Kangaroos are dead even with the Kiwis in tournament wins since 2005, with each having won three trophies and a World Cup win in that period.

That doesn’t hold this current crop Queensland greats in a light in which you’d be able to compare them with the All Blacks of the past decade. Again, if we start in 2005, this is a team that began it’s decade by thrashing a British and Irish Lions side made up of the core of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning team, won 8 of the last 10 Tri Nations/Rugby Championship tournaments, won a Rugby World Cup, completed three grand slams and are the only side to ever achieve a perfect season in the professional era (2013).

Queensland’s feat of winning 9 out of 10 Origin series is incredible in the context of Origin, but like it or not this dominance has occurred in an era of NSW weakness. That is reflected in the fact that this core Queensland spine hasn’t performed with the same efficiency consistently at Test level against the Kiwis in big deciding games as they have against their NSW opponents.

So while it’s fine to wax lyrical about them, let’s please keep it in perspective. Queensland are Origin champs, but they’re not a side you’d put in a class alongside teams like the All Blacks over the same period – or even the Aussie cricket team from the 90s to the mid 00s.

The Maroons are great, but greatest ever? Not by a long way.

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