How well do you remember ‘that’ moment, when Australia beat Uruguay in a penalty shootout to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup? That day was November 16, 2005.
133 days after New South Wales beat Queensland to win their 12th State of Origin title – and last to date.
There are a lot of young people who live south of the border who either forget or have never seen New South Wales taste victory. It’s painful to think about.
Game 1 of 2005 saw Queensland take a lead of 19-nil. New South Wales made a brave comeback to lead 20-19 before Johnathon Thurston kicked a late field goal to send the match into golden point.
The Blues were coming out of their own end when Brett Kimorley threw an intercept pass to Matty Bowen, who had started the match on the bench.
He ran away to score, winning the match 24-20 for Queensland and giving them a 1-nil lead in the three match series.
Andrew Johns had missed a lot of footy through injury but was at his best when picked at halfback for the Blues, replacing Brett Kimorely for Game 2 of the series.
‘Joey’ was at his magnificent best and won man of the match honours in the Blues’ 32-10 victory.
The series decider was very much a one-sided affair. Blues winger Matt King bagged three tries in the 32-10 smashing of the Maroons, becoming only the fourth Blues player to score a hat-trick at Origin level.
This series win would be the Blues’ third in a row but last for a long time.
It’s obvious to say a lot has happened in sport since then.
Wests Tigers won the 2005 Premiership, defeating the North Queensland Cowboys 30-16. Benji Marshall had a standout year, helping guide the Tigers to their first title as a joint venture.
In 2005 Sydney Swans won their first flag since the 30s, beating West Coast Eagles by four points. West Coast would go on to get revenge and beat Sydney by a point the next year.
Makybe Diva becomes the first horse to win three consecutive Melbourne Cups and retired after her historic victory.
The A-League commenced its first season a month after the Blues were victorious.
Lance Armstrong retired from cycling after a record seventh Tour de France victory. And we all know what happened last year with all that.
Shane Warne was still bowling leggies for Australia, and to do this day the selectors are still trying to replace him. Hello? Nathan Lyon is going great for Australia.
In 2006 the Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, nine months after New South Wales’ last series win.
Nobody has ever tweeted ‘NSW wins State of Origin Series’, at least not genuinely anyway, as Twitter was founded on March 21, 2006.
In 2005 Facebook was still only available to some American universities. YouTube was still in its infancy.
The number one song on the ARIA Charts was Mariah Carey’s We belong together.
Two weeks later the number one song was Axel F, that extremely annoying Crazy Frog song which was so bad, but somehow was also a popular ringtone.
Has pop music gotten better or worse since 2005?
Steve Irwin and Peter Brock were still alive and doing what they loved, but unfortunately were killed in September 2006.
The Beaconsfield Mine disaster was yet to take place. The Cronulla Riots were yet to occur. Microsoft still hadn’t released the Xbox 360. John Howard was still Prime Minister and would be for another two years.
The last Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, had only just hit cinemas and Harry Potter was only up its fourth movie, with four more still to come.
Eight years and eight series on Queensland have dominated State of Origin. New South Wales will be up against it, like every year, but with two games being held in Brisbane, it makes the job a lot harder.
Who knows? Maybe 2014 will be the Blues’ year!
albo
Guest
That's like my two boys ed. I have to tell them there once was a time when nsw was the better state.
Jordan Wykes
Roar Rookie
How sad is that.
Jake
Guest
I think your brain is frozen mate; NSW have won 4 games in 5 years. Simple as that.
GD
Guest
The Wallabies won the Tri-Nations in 2011.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Luke brooks?? Come on dude!
Jordan Wykes
Guest
We can't be mentioning Luke Brooks for State of Origin. He's played one first grade game. There's already huge pressure on him from those comparing him to Joey. State of Origin is a bit different to winning a Premiership. State of Origin is contested between only teams.
Ed Les Norton
Guest
No 8 year old in NSW has ever saw their home state win a series, And since no one remembers the first 3 years of their life, then the same applies to the 11 year olds.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
I hope you're right (QLD winning this year) as I love my maroons. I actually believe pearce winning that premiership last year helped him in leaps and bounds in terms of big match confidence, because now he knows how to win those games. I'd be more wary of him this year than reynolds. So I actually hope NSW pick the rabbitohs H/B. It'd be beneficial for the maroons IMO.
Avatar
Roar Guru
I honestly cannot see New South Wales winning this year, unless they drop Mitchell Pearce for Adam Reynolds for this series. I'd also give Luke Brooks a slight chance, but wait until he plays some more NRL games and see whether he'd be up for the task. Half a century on from St George's eleven consecutive premierships between 1956-66, Queensland cold be headed down the same track. This year's series will have two matches played in Brisbane, and next year a neutral match will be played likely in Melbourne, that's two more Origin series guaranteed for the Maroons, making it ten in a row (how sickening would that be to the Blues supporters). That would then put them in pole position to extend that dominance to eleven consecutive Origin series and match the St George premiership class of 1956-66. Almost half of the current primary school population across NSW have never seen their team "win" an Origin series. That same half have never seen: * Maria Sharapova beat Serena Williams (last time this happened - 2004). * Australia win a Tri-Nations or Bledisloe Cup in rugby (last time this happened - more than a decade ago). * An Australian man win Wimbledon (last time this happened - Lleyton Hewitt in 2002). * An Australian man win a Gold Medal in Olympic swimming (last time this happened - Ian Thorpe in Athens a decade ago). There's many more. When these kids finally see NSW win an Origin series then they may as well celebrate with rejoice.
Chappy
Guest
Let just get rid of Pearce, he's dead weight. Farrah, Carney and now Maloney have all struggled with doing there job and Pearce's in Origin.
Jack Henry
Guest
I disagree. I think the scorelines and the series results flattered us. You just always know Qld was gong to win when it counted...and the way the Daily Telegraph kept pumping up our tyres made us - and them - look like absolute tools. Embarassing is an understatement.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
Hahaha
Griffo
Guest
Generally close but a couple of times not really. Like 2010. Match 3 was close but the series was already over and the first 2 were not close and QLD won all 3 matches. Then in 2011 match 3 was a decider but Queensland dominated barring time at the end of each half where NSW managed some consolation tries but they were never in it.
Adam Julian
Roar Guru
Brad Thorn retired...no wait he is still playing. But Justin Bieber did.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
4 prime ministers
Jordan Wykes
Guest
Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.
Laboyia
Guest
FrozenNorth, I'd say that's a little blue eyed don't you think.... The blues have not been the better team over the last 5 years... The blues have capitulated every time the 'real' pressure was on them. The contests are generally always close and QLD have simply had the focus and composure to win the important moments when it has mattered, period. Great article Jordan.... Loved the comment about the crazy frog song... What were we thinking back then???
Digby
Roar Guru
You left out that NZ actually won a cricket test against Australia for the first time in a thousand years too. :)
FrozenNorth
Guest
NSW have been the better team for 4 of the last 5 series, honestly they have beaten QLD up the middle and looked more threatening out wide. We just need a decent half back, i know Pierce cops it but it's because he seems to have five times the opportunities Thurston has (because our forwards are on top) and can never make it count.