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The question is being asked, is this Queensland State of Origin side the best rugby league side?
To compare it with great club sides, or even national teams is obviously ridiculous. But it is reasonable to ask, is it the greatest Origin team ever?
Given that the question comes on the back of an unprecedented eight straight series wins, can it even be considered as a single “team” over those eight years?
Eight players from that first winning series appeared this year, Justin Hodges, Brent Tate, Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith, Matt Scott, Sam Thaiday, and Nate Myles, and Mal Meninga has been coach throughout the period. Add in the likes of Billy Slater who had played before, but missed selection, and an argument can certainly be made that the team has regularly had enough of the same players to give it continuity.
How then does their winning record stack up?
Queensland dominated the opening ten years of Origin. After winning the two one-off matches in 1980 and 1981, Queensland won six of the first eight three game series with 15 wins from 24 games.
With the likes of Dale Shearer, Wally Lewis, Alan Langer, Gene Miles, Greg Dowling, Marty Bella, Mick Hancock and Meninga regularly lining up against Gary Jack, Mick O’Connor, Andrew Ettingshausen, Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Wayne Pearce, Des Hasler and Mick Cronin, (I could go on much longer) winning any game, let alone a series, for either side, was a major achievement.
There was a win a piece in 1990 and 91, but then the Blues took over. In fourteen series between 1992 and 2005, Queensland won only three, drew two while New South Wales dominated to take the trophy nine times, with 23 games won from 42 starts.
Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart, Glenn Lazarus, Paul Harragon, Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Johns, and Brad Fittler proved too good for Petero Civoniceva, Shane Webcke, Steve Renouf, Gorden Tallis, Wendell Sailor, Darren Lockyer and Mat Rogers.
Enter the current Queensland side.
17 wins in 24 games does give them the highest win ratio of any era.
From the 2006 series, only Gallen, who played off the interchange in game three, is still in the Blues line-up. Apart from perhaps Jarryd Hayne, Mick Jennings, and Robbie Farah, NSW have struggled to find any lasting combination of players to challenge the Queensland juggernaught.
While they have certainly had many good players, can New South Wales really boast a substantial number of players of the calibre from either of the two earlier eras?
Does this lessen the achievements of the Queensland team, or serve to highlight just how dominant it has been?
Personally, I lean towards the latter assessment.
I have watched every State of Origin match, even the “exhibition” game in LA.
As a Queenslander, I have a certain fondness for the 80s teams led by Wally Lewis, but I cannot think of any side, Maroon or Blue, which has had the depth of talent and balance that the current team has demonstrated.
Most of us remember the players of our youth with a certain fondness that is never replicated in our more experienced (and perhaps more cynical) years. Big Mal has always been my favourite player, with King Wally just behind, but now, Inglis, Thurston, and Slater rank up there as high as any.
Could NSW have picked better teams during the past eight years? Perhaps.
Has NSW picked bad teams 24 games in a row? Definitely not. They have won seven games, and been less than a converted try behind another five times.
By any measure, they could have won several series. What has stopped them is what separates this Queensland team from any other.
This Queensland side has a mental toughness and unfailing belief in their ability to win that I have never seen at this level before. Their ability to dig deep, and do what is needed most at the crucial times has seen them come from behind, or hold on at the death, time and time again.
It is not just a belief held by individual players, but held throughout the entire squad. They know it, and perhaps just as importantly, their opponents know it.
That is why they are the greatest Origin team of all time, and I for one am thankful for the opportunity to watch them every chance I get.
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