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Opinion
Billy Slater is only at the start of his coaching career but what he’s achieved in a short space of time is truly remarkable, to turn Queensland around after last year’s flogging to win a decider against the odds.
When you put it into the context of going into the game without Cameron Munster, Felise Kaufusi and Murray Taulagi and then losing Selwyn Cobbo and Lindsay Collins in the first couple of minutes, the 22-12 win in the series decider will forever be part of Queensland Origin folklore.
It’s up there with the heroics of the famous win at the SFS in 1989 and Paul Vautin’s 3-0 clean sweep in 1995 among the greatest in Maroons history.
Billy put his hand up to coach when Queensland was in an ordinary situation because he knows how much Origin means to the state, the fans and the players.
Like Brad Fittler with NSW, he gets Origin.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
I thought he’d done well to force a decider. Winning game one was great and then after copping a shellacking in Perth, he showed tremendous tactical nous to get the deciding victory.
The response and preparation, despite a disrupted build-up, was first class because it was a backs to the wall situation when not many people gave them much hope.
Queensland’s future now looks great and we weren’t saying that 12 months ago but it’s good for the Origin concept.
The match itself was full of ferocity, a real throwback. I wrote before the game that the Maroons needed to bring the physicality and they did just that.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Their forwards really led the charge, Josh Papalii had his best game of the series, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was aggressive and Patrick Carrigan thoroughly deserved the Wally Lewis Medal.
Kalyn Ponga had his best game I’ve seen him play, Ben Hunt was superb at hooker or as the extra middle forward, Daly Cherry-Evans led from the front and maybe now he’s got his nose in front of James Tedesco to be Kangaroos captain.
Ponga returned the ball strongly and was a constant danger to the Blues whenever he took the line on.
Billy Slater and Ben Hunt celebrate. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Slater invested in the new guys in a way that reminded me of Mal Meninga when he took over in 2006 and picked a lot of guys who hadn’t been given a run at Origin level.
Tom Dearden’s effort at five-eighth was one of the best I can recall from someone wearing the No.6 jersey, Tom Gilbert was strong in attack and defence and Jeremiah Nanai, for a 19-year-old back-rower in his starting debut, was everywhere.
With Carrigan, Cobbo and Taulagi all getting their first jersey this series, there’s a crop of youngsters there that the Maroons can keep developing over the next few years.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Maroons were behind the eight ball when they had two players off early and NSW lost one in Cameron Murray but the Suncorp Stadium crowd made up the difference.
It has been proven time and time again over the years that Origin means more to Queenslanders and their unashamed passion for their team was on show again at Suncorp Stadium.
There were shades of the old Lang Park on Wednesday night – it’s a unique stadium, quite a different environment to anywhere else and it just engenders unbelievable spirit from everyone wearing Maroon.
Dane Gagai probably showed a bit too much spirit when he ran in to punch Matt Burton and I think he was happy that he wasn’t the only one who got sent to the sin bin.
Queensland fired up from that moment early in the second half but NSW lost their way a bit.
The Blues started losing the arm wrestle and they were on the wrong end of a few of the key moments down the stretch with a couple of bad passes from Stephen Crichton and Jarome Luai, plus a knock-on from Siosifa Talakai when the pressure was on.
They kept getting turned around by the Maroons’ early kicks, the ball was getting put in behind them and they were hemmed in their own end a lot in the second half. It was a tactic Cameron Smith used a lot when he would kick out of dummy-half on play three or four and it can be particularly effective at Origin level when the game is already so physically exhausting.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
NSW showed unbelievable resilience on their tryline for long periods and they contributed enormously to one of the greatest Origin games of all time.
Queensland owned the big moments. Ponga’s try was a beauty and he was set up with a nice inside ball from DCE to get the ball rolling after the restart.
Hunt’s brilliant 40/20 and effort at the end to score that last try was enormous but one of the moments that I thought was really critical was when Valentine Holmes saved the ball from going over the sideline from the line drop-out.
There were too many to list but for the most part, Queensland rose to the occasion when it mattered and that proved the difference in the end.
Michael Hagan is a former dual-premiership winning first grade player and current assistant coach of Australia's Kangaroos team. Hagan played 183 games for Canterbury and Newcastle and represented Queensland five times. He transitioned into a successful coach and took the Knights to a premiership in his first year in charge back in 2001. He went onto coach 205 NRL games and six times for Queensland in Origin.