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In my last article I came up with a team of NSW Origin players who you just might have forgotten, so here’s an equally forgotten, and in some cases forgettable, team of Queenslanders.
Nearly 230 players have now worn the famous maroon jersey since game 1 back in 1980 and for every legend like Wally Lewis, Allan Langer and Mal Meninga there is a player whose Origin career was brief, either through injury or other circumstances beyond his control, or just because he shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Here’s a team of Queensland Origin players who you may have forgotten, and the one thing that they have in common is that they’ve all played five Origins or fewer for the Maroons.
I don’t think I’m being unkind in describing Allan as just an average first grader, and his 50-odd games in five years would bear testament to that. He was the third fullback used when called up for Game 3 in 2020 and helped the Maroons secure an unlikely series victory, but it’s hard to see him ever getting another Origin run.
That Kiss played Origin isn’t surprising, but the fact that he only got four games in the maroon jumper is. He was a very good winger and scored a try in each match when called into the Queensland side for Games 2 and 3 in 1986, but then had to wait until 1990 to get called up again. Perhaps the fact that Queensland lost all four games that Kiss appeared in counted against him, as it’s usually the winger’s fault.
Queensland coach Paul Vautin was short on available talent in his last year as coach in 1997 and selected Kelly to play off the bench in Game 1 of the series. He made the run-on side for Game 2 but was back on the bench for Game 3. That was Kelly’s last taste of representative football.
It’s hard to imagine what was going through Queensland coach Kevin Walters’ head when he picked Mbye for all three games in the 2019 season, twice off the bench and then in the run-on side in Game 3. Queensland lost the series, Kevvie then stepped down as coach, and Mbye hasn’t featured in Origin again.
Yow Yeh was a freakish player, and at the age of just 21 had three Origins for Queensland and three Test matches for Australia under his belt. He then suffered a serious leg injury while playing for the Broncos early in the 2012 season and never recovered, eventually announcing his retirement in 2014 at the age of 24.
Norman had a chequered career both on and off the field and after being recruited by the Dragons in 2019 was somehow called into Game 3 of the 2019 series to replace the injured Cameron Munster. Predictably, with Norman on the field, Queensland lost the decider.
Corey Norman. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Why they didn’t just play Michael Morgan at five-eighth instead of off the bench is a question that only coach Kevin Walters can answer.
Enormously talented, Scott Prince can count himself as very unlucky not to play more than five Origin matches, but look at the competition he had to contend with. He replaced Shaun Berrigan at halfback for the entire 2004 series which was won by NSW, but then had to watch from the stands as Johnathan Thurston established himself as Queensland’s first-choice No.7.
His final two Origins came in Games 2 and 3 of the 2008 series when Thurston was injured.
Ofahengaue is a big and mobile unit who also has some good ball skills but has always struggled with consistency. He played two games in Walters’ 2019 squad but then fell out of favour until Game 1 of the 2021 series. There’s still hope for big Joe, and maybe he’ll get another opportunity?
After making his first-grade debut way back in 2008, McCullough had to wait until Cameron Smith’s Origin retirement in 2018 to get his first crack at the maroon jersey. He played all three games that year but injuries and form saw him wait another three years for his next and last Origin game.
Well before he became a media clown, Darryl Brohman was a seriously good footballer, with ball-playing skills that earned him comparisons to Arthur Beetson. He was seen as such a threat to NSW that Blues lunatic Les Boyd floored him with an elbow to the jaw in Game 1 of the 1983 series, putting him out for the rest of the season and ruining his chance for Kangaroos selection.
It’s a credit to Brohman that he eventually made it back to the Origin stage in Game 2 of the 1986 series.
Campion was the type of tough, talented and versatile forward that every team needs, particularly in Origin, and he didn’t disappoint when he was thrust into the unfamiliar role of hooker for Queensland in Games 1 and 2 of the 2001 series, having already played two games off the bench for Queensland in the 1997 Super League Origin series.
He shifted to the bench in Game 3 in 2021 and then played his last Origin for Queensland, once again at hooker, in Game 1 of the 2002 series.
Stains was a bit of a grafter who never took a backward step and was perfect for Origin. He played in Games 1 and 3 of the 1989 series, winning both, and then was in the losing side in Games 1 and 2 the following year.
Sattler first played in the top grade as a 20-year-old in 1992 but had to wait another 11 years for his first and only Origin game when he came off the bench in Game 2 of the 2003 season.
Goddard played four Origins on the trot in 1998 and 1999 but is best remembered for giving his opposite number Andrew Johns a belting in Game 3 of the 1998 series.
Lowe was a handy back rower and a premiership winner with the Cowboys, and his only representative game came in 2019 when he made the Queensland side for Game 3 of the series as a replacement for Matt Gillett. He played well and kicked four goals from as many attempts as the Maroons lost both the game and the series and his services were no longer required.
Lui was playing some of his best football in what was an otherwise “tradesman like” career when he was surprisingly plucked from the Raiders bench to represent Queensland in Game 2 of the 2020 series.
The best way to describe Glasby was “reliable”. You knew what he was going to bring to each game and he never let his team down. He played five games off the bench for Queensland across the 2017 to 2019 seasons.
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