In 1995 during the vexed cluster of the Super League war, Paul Vautin led a team of tyros and try-hards into a State of Origin series without any News Ltd-signed players, notably Allan Langer, Willie Carne, Mick Hancock, Kevin Walters, Kerrod Walters, Steve Walters and Steve Renouf. And it was widely tipped that NSW would wipe the floor with them.
The Blues trotted out Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Geoff Toovey, Steve Menzies, Tim Brasher and Paul McGregor. The props were Paul Harragon and Mark Carroll. They were coached by Phil Gould. They were prohibitively long odds-on.
Yet the Maroons, who included such non-household names as Terry Cook, Craig Teevan and 18-year-old Ben Ikin – who was so fresh that when Vautin first met him he thought he was an autograph hunter – pulled off not one but three miracles in the great whitewash of ’95. And Queenslanders howled “Queenslander” long into the night. And ever since.
For such is being a Queenslander. The Origin series was first ignited because Queenslanders were so chippy at being beaten by big brother. It’s been harder in recent years to claim “underdog” status given they’ve won 12 of the last 14 series. But after the whipping dished out in torrential rain in Perth by Brad Fittler’s Blues, Queensland can again pull on the familiar if moth-balled maroon cardigan of underdog status.
A Maroons win in Sydney on Wednesday night would be a miracle akin to ’95 and this match is NSW’s to lose. Yes, NSW’s halfback and game-manager Mitchell Pearce is the focus of media and fans, and it will be compelling viewing to look into the man’s eyes, the window to the soul, and deduce how heavily the weight of legacy sits on the 30-year-old. It’s not just a game of rugby league for Pearce. Try as he might to play it that way, Game 3 in Sydney is how he’ll be remembered – the star halfback who either finally did or never could get it done on the game’s biggest stage.
Yet there are myriad reasons why that storyline is bunkum. The past isn’t an indicator of the future. Pearce may have demons and ghosts from Origins lost – he has played in 18 matches and won just five – but he will know, as all NSW Blues know, that no-one was beating those Queensland Origin teams outside a blip in 2014 when Jarryd Hayne scorched the earth.
Yet that series, like every other one past including the miracle of ‘95, are irrelevant. Because this NSW team has much better players than Queensland. Because this Queensland team is very much not that Queensland team, the one that trotted out a handful of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
It comes down to personnel; specifically to big game, game-breaking, influential personnel. And the Blues have more of them than Queensland.
Consider the spines. The Blues have Pearce in the form of his life, James Maloney who was close to man-of-the-match in Perth, James Tedesco (who should have been) and the scurrying hot rake from Souths, Damien Cook. To them you could add the fabulous Trbojevic bothers, Tommy and Jake, who are given a licence to roam by Fittler because their skill-set demands that the more they have their hands on the ball the better for their team. Manly has thrown a Brookvale bank at the pair because of it.
The marauding Trbojevic siblings mean the Blues have effectively six players in their starting spine – they represent two extra vertebrae. When Wade Graham comes on – and such was his influence in Perth there was serious chat he might wear the No 6 in Nathan Cleary’s absence – means the Blues have effectively a seventh ball-player.
Graham, like Jake Trbojevic, is a skilled man on the edge, almost a second five-eighth. He’s big, tough and, like Maloney and the Trbojevic brothers, he won’t die wondering. He has been invested by Fittler to back himself, back his skills, and play the footy he can. He will revel in Wednesday’s occasion.
Of course, no backline or play-making edge unit can make hay without a foundation in the middle. And it’s there the Blues have an advantage too. Queensland has lost dependable tackle hound Matt Gillett. Josh Papalii is out of form. Josh Maguire is a walking penalty. Christian Welch and Ethan Lowe are on debut. And running hard and with purpose at these people in front of 80,000 baying Blues fans will be Daniel Saifiti, David Klemmer and Paul Vaughan. They will bend the line, quickly play the ball or free an arm, and set their speed men free.
The Blues have advantages there too. Alas, we’re out of space. Just as Queensland will be out of answers. Actually scrap that from earlier – the Maroons will need a bigger miracle than that of ’95.