Icons Wally Lewis and Darren Lockyer bowed out of Origin football 20 years apart. Lewis at Lang Park in 1991, captaining Queensland to win the decider 14-12. Lockyer last night at Suncorp, the re-named Lang Park, leading Queensland to win the decider 34-24.
Fittingly, they were the last two times Lang Park/Suncorp has hosted Maroon victories to decide the series, with their career exploits commemorated in bronze.
The Lewis statue outside Suncorp will soon be joined by the Lockyer stature: both superbly life-like and both thoroughly deserved.
Throw in current coach Mal Meninga, the mentor behind the record six successive series wins, and Allan Langer, an integral member of the Maroons backroom staff, and there you have the culture that makes Queensland so dominant.
Chronologically Lewis, Meninga, Langer, Lockyer, who just happen to be the four most capped in the 32 year-history of Origin.
Lockyer 36, Langer 34, Meninga 32, Lewis 31, Brad Fittler 31, Petero Civoniceva 30, Steve Price 28, Andrew Ettingshausen 28, Dale Shearer 26, Bobby Lindner 15, and Gary Larson 24 – the most consecutive games in Origin history.
The top 11 caps, nine of them Queenslanders, just to prove the culture point.
There’s no culture in NSW Origin, although Ricky Stuart has certainly lifted the self-belief in the Blues to make a right royal fist of this series.
But when push turned to shove last night, the Queensland culture surfaced big-time, as did the 52,498 crowd support.
The 34-24 scoreline flattered NSW. It was far more fitting in the 68th minute when Queensland led 34-10, before they took the pedal off the metal eight minutes from time for NSW to pile on 14 unanswered points.
The gulf between the two sides is emphasised by the six successive series wins, and the Wally Lewis Medal, awarded to the player-of-the-series.
They are all class, and all Queensland: Lockyer (2006), Cam Smith (2007), Johnathan Thurston (2008), Greg Inglis (2009), Billy Slater (2010), and Smith again last night, although the future Kangaroo-Queensland skipper could be in strife for sinking his knees into Jarryd Hayne’s back when he scored the third of NSW’s four tries.
But the Maroons scored six, with two to Inglis, who grows a leg at Origin-Kangaroo time, as do most Queenslanders.
In 96 Origin games, Queensland has won 45, NSW 41.
But the more telling stat is that Queensland has won 13 of the last 18, and with Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, and Johnathan Thurston very likely to finish their careers down the track as icons in the Lewis-Lockyer mould, and such a classy halfback in Cooper Cronk coming off the bench, it’s a bleak future for NSW, where perhaps Jarryd Hayne and Mark Gasnier, possibly Paul Gallen, will be competitive.
Which begs the question of Ricky Stuart’s future?
He’s the best bet to coach NSW in Origin 2012, but will that be enough to sustain his highly-competitive nature?
Three games in a season sustains laid-back Mal Meninga; the same doesn’t apply to the energetic Stuart.
The Bulldogs as well?
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