The worst players to ever play State of Origin

Before 2017, 453 players had played State of Origin in over 100 matches. Some stand out as serious head-scratchers, players who, with the benefit of hindsight, make you wonder how on earth they were ever selected in the first place.

Here’s the best of them, or more accurately, the worst.

Darryl Brohman (QLD, 1983-1986)
The Big Marn had a woeful Origin ‘career’, but given it started with a broken jaw and an out of court legal settlement, it was never marked for big things.

Les Boyd was the offender, breaking Brohman’s jaw with his elbow. It saw the Queenslander ruled out for the rest of the season. It marked the beginning of the end for Brohman, who was at that point a contender for the Australian team to play the Kiwis.

Instead, he was out and didn’t play for the Maroons again until 1986. When he did get back to the side, he had an average performance and was retired by the end of 1987.

Talk about Origin ruining a career.

Jamie Buhrer (NSW, 2012)
Buhrer played so Robbie Farah could presumably go to the toilet. That’s what it looked like, anyway.

The Manly utility couldn’t be called anything more than an honest club player, but somehow he found himself on the bench as the utility for the Blues in Game 1 of 2012.

It worked wonders. He played seven minutes of the second half, did nothing, went back to the bench and that was about it. The only debut which was more memorable (or less) was Josh Reynolds, who sat on the bench for the whole 80 minutes.

What’s more, it was when Buhrer came onto the field that the Blues lost their way (and eventually the match). He copped criticism for it, although Ricky Stuart deserved just as much for selecting him.

Phil Duke (NSW, 1982)
Duke was the first man to be selected for the Blues without playing in the New South Wales Rugby League, which was the first-grade competition at the time.

Playing for the – wait for it – Moree Boomerangs, he was selected for the Country side in 1982. A strong showing earned him selection on the wing in Game 3 of the series.

In what was a decider with the scores tied, Duke fumbled a pass from Phil Sigsworth – more on him later – with the King, Wally Lewis to score the game and series winning try for the Maroons.

What a way to announce yourself to the public in front of 20,000 fans.

Duke would go on to play two seasons for the Western Suburbs Magpies, but it would be the final time he was sighted in sky blue.

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Bryan Fletcher (NSW 1998-2003)
Hand grenade. Do I need to say anymore?

Fletch actually wasn’t a bad Origin player. He is one of only two players on this list to reach double digits for appearance, but he has been credited with starting the Maroons’ “decade of domination”.

That’s good enough for me. Welcome to the list Fletch.

Nathan Merritt (NSW, 2013)
The Rabbitohs winger may have once been a strong Origin player. Off-field issues meant he didn’t get a start until he was past his prime though, and his single-game effort in the cauldron may go down as one of the worst ever.

The words “a Souths thing or a racial thing” will live long in the memory of Merrit supporters. It may have set his Origin back those six years, turning it from promising to disastrous.

He didn’t get hooked like Justin Hodges did on debut, but he can’t have been far from it. It was woeful. Dropped balls, poor decisions, missed tackles. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong and Merritt’s cards were marked never again.

Phil Sigsworth (NSW, 1981-1983)
Sigsworth lasted a little bit longer than Duke in the Origin arena, playing three games and also representing Australia once.

Unfortunately, he never did anything good in Origin and will always be remembered for throwing the pass that sunk the ’82 series.

Even though he was judged Rugby League Week player of the year in 1983 and finished runner-up in the Dally M medal, his Origin career was a bit of a joke.

Mitchell Pearce (NSW, 2008-present)
Ah, controversy! Look, Pearce is a great club player. He is just hopeless on the big stage.

Maybe I’m writing this in hope he is going to turn it around in 2017, but it just doesn’t look like it’ll ever happen.

How his cards haven’t been marked, we will never know. Pearce has played 15 matches for the Blues since 2008, with the only series win in that period coming in 2014 – when he was conveniently out of the side.

It’s been a woeful Origin career, to say the least.

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Steve Stacey (QLD, 1983)
Stacey played two games for Queensland, both in the same year and struggled in both. Making his debut in Game 1, he was part of a winning effort but struggled.

He was then dropped for the second game, before being brought back in for the third. It was another ordinary performance, this time on the opposite wing.

Eric Grothe Senior and Chris Anderson both had field days marking up on him and Stacey’s Origin career was brought to a close.

David Stagg (QLD, 2006)
The former Broncos and Bulldogs second rower was a genuinely good player. He would run all day and tackle anything that moved.

He was an honest toiler and will be remembered as a better than average premiership-winning club player.

What he won’t be remembered as is an Origin player. He struggled in his one game during the 2006 series, dropped as quickly as he came in and never returned behind one of the strongest packs in the history of the game.

He was very much of the Ashley Harrison mould. Harrison, though, would play 15 Origin games – 14 more than Stagg, who got passed by the wayside.

Scott Tronc (QLD, 1988)
Tronc had one of the most uninspiring Origin careers in history. Not quite as bad as Jamie Buhrer, but he was selected on the bench for Game 1 in 1988, with his name never seen again.

He didn’t do much with his performance despite the Maroons winning at home, with Wayne Bennett not selecting him for the rest of the series.

Adrian Vowles (QLD, 1994)
Vowles was picked to make his Origin debut in Game 2 of the 1994 series off the bench as a utlity back.

It worked about as well as the result for the Maroons as they went down 14-0 in a tough affair. Vowles did next to nothing off the bench and his cards were marked never to return, despite sticking with the North Queensland Cowboys for the next few seasons.

David Williams (NSW, 2009)
Remember the Wolfman? He was picked and it was all howling along beautifully.

That was until he stumbled, fumbled and bumbled his way through his two Origin appearances in 2009 on the back of scoring a double in the 2008 grand final demolition of the Melbourne Storm.

The Manly winger might have scored a couple of tries, but he was a defensive liability and Queensland ran rings around him. Then again, they have done so for most of the last ten years.

So then Roarers, who are the worst players in State of Origin history? Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.