Sydney, July 7, 2004. NSW Blues Coach Phil Gould celebrates a try. The NSW Blues beat the Queensland Maroons 36-14 in the third State of Origin match to win the series at Telstra Stadium, Sydney tonight. AAP Image/Action Photographics/Colin Whelan
If you are a dedicated Blues fan like me, and are downhearted by the stranglehold Queensland has held on the State of Origin shield for the last few years, it seems like we’ll never see the likes of NSW legends such as Fittler, Johns, or Sterling again.
But if there is one thing the history of Origin has showed us, is that no team has the monopoly on the series for long. It may not be this year, or even the next. But the day of the Blues will come again.
The cane toads’ days are numbered.
Until then, look back on these moments when we were on top of the world, and know that it will be our turn again soon.
1. First Series win 1985
After winning Game 1 at Lang Park, the Blues, led by Steve Mortimer, took out their first Origin series at the SCG. The image of an emotion wracked Mortimer collapsing on the ground after being chaired off by his teammates marked the turning point, the end of Queensland’s initial dominance of the interstate rivalry. This was when both the Queensland and NSW fans and media alike realized the importance of Origin, and how big it would become.
2. Cattledog!
The iconic battle cry that kicked off one of the biggest brawls in Origin history has become a symbol of defiance, that we aren’t intimidated by our northern enemies, and can give as good as we get. Some of the best battles of the war include: Mark Geyer towering over Wally Lewis, after waging a one man campaign against Queensland in Game 2, 1991; Paul ‘the Chief’ Harragon belting Marty Bella in 1993; Tommy Raudonikis going for Greg Oliphant like a patriot missile; and Mark ‘Spud’ Caroll’s outraged revenge on Tony Hearn for a head butt in 1995.
3. Mick DeVere and the staple gun
We all remember the image of Mick DeVere, blood streaming down his face, waiting patiently for the trainer to raise a staple gun to the side of his head. His hand shaking uncontrollably, the trainer closed the gash with staples directly into DeVeres brow. This is the picture of NSW toughness, unlike the image of Benny Elias’ mother fussing over the blood all over his face at the end of Game 1 of the 1992 series.
4. Nineties dominance
State of Origin from 1992 through 1997 was dominated by the Blues, winning all but one series. Under the coaching of Phil Gould and the captaincy of legends such as Daley and Fittler, the nineties were a golden age for New South Wales. With players of the caliber of Ettingshausen, Brasher, Lazarus and Wishart at the peak of their powers, Queensland could do little to stop the onslaught of the mighty New South Wales.
5. Year 2000 3-0 white wash
A vengeful NSW sealed the series with the first two games after Queensland had previously retained the shield with a draw. Gorden Tallis called for the ‘dead rubber’ third match to be cancelled. Fat chance. Hailed as the ‘best NSW team ever,’ the Blues defeated Queensland 56-16 in Game 3 at Stadium Australia, and matched or broke six Origin records. Ryan Girdler scored three tries and 10 goals to produce one of the most stunning individual performances yet seen.
6. Mick Crocker knocked out
I was at this particular match last year, roaring with laughter, as Michael Crocker unwisely tried to charge down a kick from Mitchell Pierce with his face. He tried to get up, stumbled around for a few moments but eventually got taken off. Funniest thing ever.
7. Big deciders
Surprisingly, there aren’t very many instances where the series was won in the dying moments of Game 3. The 1992 series is the one exception. 54 minutes in, the score was four all. The break came when a deft kick to the blind side from Laurie Daley was scooped up by Paul MacGregor, who managed to offload back to Daley who sent Andrew Ettingshausen over to break the dead lock. NSW went on to win 16-4.
Another memorable decider was that of ’94, the final Origin appearances of legends Mal Meninga for Queensland and Ben Elias for the Blues. NSW had lost game 1, and never before had won a series under that circumstance. But it was Elias who got the ending he wanted. Much to the fury of the Lang Park crowd, Elias set up one try and kicked two field goals to put victory out of the Maroons’ reach and rob Meninga of the fairytale ending.
8. Tallis sent off
Every single New South Welshman out there relished the sight of the most hated Queenslander (even before poor Brett Hodgson got dragged halfway out of the stadium two years later) get taken down a peg by referee Bill Harrigan, for verbally abusing him in Game 1 of the 2000 series. The words “Don’t argue with me, just go,” drew cries of glee and jeering from all 61,511 Blues fans at Stadium Australia.
9. Freddy leaves on a high
Coach Phil Gould managed to persuade Brad Fittler to come out of representative retirement to rescue the 2004 series for the Blues. He scored the final try of the decider at Telstra Stadium, his last match for NSW.
10. Return of the Joey
Despite a string of injuries and trying to convince the media all year that he was done with representative football so he could concentrate on the Knights, Andrew Johns returned for Game 2 of 2005, much to the delight of all NSW faithful (but slight trepidation to Knights fans who were worried he would injure himself again). Fortunately he didn’t, and Johns led the Blues to their third series win in a row.
Richard Brockhurst
Guest
Macavity & Brett You say birth has nothing to do with eligibility,it's all to do with the first location of senior football... My argument exactly. Inglis was playing for the Bowraville Tigers on the NSW north coast when he was signed by lian McLennan at the age of 15. He then moved to Brisbane and attended Wavell Sports High. He played his senior football for Norths in the QLD Cup. In 2005 he won the Courier Mail Best & Fairest Award I believe he was 18yo at the time. r
Brett McKay
Expert
spot on Macavity, it was some sneaky recruiting and then a relocation to Brisbane by the Storm that has Inglis playing for Qld. Somehow they've been allowed to get away with it, and of course it's unlikely to be corrected now. I'm sure it's been mentioned that by rights, Steve Rogers should have played for Qld, and Mat Rogers for NSW. And Richard, birth has nothing to do with eligibility, it's all to do with the first location of senior football...
macavity
Guest
Richard, Greg Inglis played his first senior football for Hunter Sports High in Newcastle. He is a blue by birth, by eligibility and by right. QLD have no claim on him and they know it.
Richard Brockhurst
Guest
Bill I believe Greg Inglis is Peter Sterling in reverse. He was born in NSW and then came to Qld and attended Wavell State High School on the northside of Brisbane. He then went on to play in the Australian School Boys Team in 2004? After that Brisbane club Norths DEVILS picked him had him playing for them in the QLD RL competition known as State League. Norths is a feeder club for the Melbourne Storm and they liked what they saw!! Peter Sterling was born in Toowoomba QLD moved to NSW and played for Parramatta--available for NSW selection.
Richard Brockhurst
Guest
Bill Ginga Bager and Boxhead played for Canberra when Bennett was the coach. They played for Canberra because they were already good players before they went there .Big Glen Lazarus played for the Broncos when Wayne asked him to join them. I don't concider that the Broncos "supplied "Glen for NSW Origin. Wayne wanted him because he was a great prop and wanted to win the cup. Wasn't Boxhead --Steve Walters a great player. Put a Maroon jersy on him and it would take 3 Blues to stop him. Proud guy Steve with a heap of Guts. He had hate for Benny Alias,and he wasn't the only one. It cost Bennys father a heap of money to keep him out of jail. Was I a bit hard on Westy -- sorry Westy.
Bill
Guest
Queenslanders please explain the justification for Greg Inglis playing for Queensland?
Bill
Guest
Richard Brockhurst - I believe Westy isn't saying that Meninga, Belcher, Walters etc were born & bred in Canberra BUT they played for the Canberra Raiders. You should apologise for the abuse!
onside
Guest
Mighty Blues and Westy Seems like your ideas and opinions have attracted forthright responses and styles we are less familiar with.
Glen
Guest
Mightyblues... just run your personality type by the FBI profiling section at Quantico and it appears that you are most likely a K-mart storeman, a cross-dressing bi-sexual that lives at home with his mother and masturbates to 1980's Michael Jackon video clips..... Get a grip dude and look at reality, NSW have sucked for along, long, time and you need to get used to it!
westy
Guest
Canberra in their heyday were a sinificant supplier of both teams Belcher /Meninga/ Waltersfor QLD and daley/ Stuart/ Mullins/ furner / Lazarus for NSw and i have probably forgotten a few.
westy
Guest
Onside you raise an interesting point . Most NSW players originate within the state ( 11 teams) . One of the problems for NSW has been it has more players to choose from ( not always best quality) which has caused it some problems in the past and present. it is no secret that QLD feared Kenny at 5/8 but NSw picked him at centre or not at all ( Thompson, Chris Motimeror Lyons). When they did NSw won . the benefit of hindsight. Sterling and Kenny or Steve Mortimer. Problem was when they did not pick Steve Mortimer they sometimes also forgot Kenny. The key to recent dominance has been the deep coverage QLD has achieved in the halves eg Thurston , Prince , Lockyer, Cronk, Sandow, Rodgers, Moon even Parramatta's Tim Smith hailed from up north)
onside
Guest
What is the relaitionship between the clubs players belonged to, and origin results.In other words are there any statistics showing say ,a QLD win ,but most players in the team came from clubs outside QLD, or conversely a NSW win ,but many players came from clubs outside the state. It would also be interesting to see the percentages of SOO players that played in Canberra or Melbourne. Does anybody think a SOO victory is any indication of the strength of the game in one state over another.
Richard Brockhurst
Guest
Boydy perhaps Les Boyd??? now that's another story speaking of integrity. NSW set him right up. Just as they used Mark Geyer and Geyer openly admits it !!! That is why Lewis wasn't happy at half time, the Ref did nothing during the game to stop him. Geyer has said he was told by NSW officals "This is origin - you CANNOT BE SENT OFF". Geyer said NSW had the game set up for him to to Reap HAVOC on QLD.--- Now Athur Beetson played for the first time as Captain for Qld at the age of 36. He was Nsw captain for most of his career . Along with Rod Reedy at plenty of other Qld players who played against us. Peter Sterling was born in Toowoomba but his family moved to NSW where he played League at secondry school. He was available for NSW selection. I take it your talking of the mighty Petrol Seventycentsalitre when you talk of Samoans playing for Qld. Petro was born in FIGI, he came to QLD when he was 1 year old. Played football for the Redcliffe Dolfins. Hazem El Magic was born in LEBANON, he is a devout Muslim, should he be available for origin--- ABSOLUTELY. QLD does't play anyone they want, there's rules coverning selection. Flying over our boarders doe's not count .. NSW - INTEGRITY ???
Boydy
Guest
Richard Brockhurst, you are obviously one of those Queenslanders who think that cheating is OK as long as it's Queensland doing the cheating. For years NSW have had to put up with playing against Kiwis, Samoans, Papua New Guineans and whoever else Qld choose to run out (even New South Welshman I might add) as their own. SOO was created because Qld were always whinging that their best players were playing for NSW AGAINST them. After a few year, NSW decided to get serious about the concept (Qld were always serious about it, thinking they owned it), Qld realised that their best was now not good enough so started to ring-in anyone who had even so much as flown over their boarders. As long as they were a good footballer at the time. You Queenslanders all think you ARE State Of Origin, well you know what? As far as I'm concerned you can have it State Of Origin and you're monicker. For mine, NSW will always be a State Of Integrity!
Richard Brockhurst
Guest
MIGHTY BLUES You write that it might not be this year or even the next , but the day for the blues will come again. That is what happened in 2000. Game 1 the blues knocked on and QLD stopped thinking play would be stopped but Harringon allowed play to continue and NSW were awarded a try. Tallis said what about the knock on Bill ?? What knock on is the reply. Your joking says Tallis. NO I'm not states Harringon. No knock on ?? Your a F-----G cheat Bill says Tallis. Harringon sent off the QLD captain. The cocky's won all three matches that year....Proud moment that. Another proud moment was done by BK as you guys call him. He laid down after a love tap on the chin... That was Ben Kennedy CHEAT!!!
The Link
Guest
What about the game at the SFS where MG and the King went toe to toe at half time and O'Connor converts from the sideline to win in the pouring rain? Honourable mention to big Gordie ragdolling Brett Hodgson over the sideline at Homebush.
Brett McKay
Guest
Fear not Mighty, the Blues are preparing to unleash a new weapon: Swine Flu!! Although they may have got their timings out, infecting the Queenslanders straight after SOO1; perhaps should have waited a few weeks...