Few sporting contests can match the rugby league State of Origin series for on-field rivalry, drama and courage.
Here are our ten most memorable Origin moments which, in a gesture of goodwill, includes one that people south of the Tweed will appreciate:
10. 2006 Series - The return of Big Mal
After four series losses in a row, rugby league legend Mal Meninga answered the call and took up the coaching position with the Queensland team.
Meninga introduced pre-match camps and strategies that had proved successful for Queensland in the past.
Amid murmurings that the recent NSW dominance was eroding the drawing power of the Origin series, Queensland suffered a heart-breaking one-point loss in game one.
Queensland levelled the series in game two, and then scored two tries in the last ten minutes of game three to score an astonishing victory.
Much of that side is still intact, in what appears to be the start of a new Queensland dynasty.
9. 1985 Series - NSW win...finally
NSW captain Steve Mortimer was taking part in his fourth and final Origin campaign.
A 24-20 victory in Sydney gave NSW their first series win. Footage of Mortimer on his knees after the siren, punching the ground with both hands in relief, is one of the most iconic images in the game.
8. 1987 Series - Allan Langer emerges
Few, if any, expected the Queensland selectors to choose the diminutive 20 year old from the Ipswich Jets as the Queensland halfback, and the choice was met with great derision on both sides of the border.
Pairing up with Wally Lewis in the halves for the first time, they took on the great NSW combination of Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny.
In the dying seconds of game one and with the scores locked at 16-all, the NSW centres Andrew Ettingshausen and Mark McGaw teamed up to score an extraordinary try in the corner to take the match.
Langer played out of his skin, and most felt he would have taken Man of the Match honours had NSW not snatched victory.
Queensland came from 1-0 down to win the next two games and take the series. Langer was Man of the Match in game three after an astonishing display and went on to become one of Queensland’s all-time greats.
7. Game 1, 1994 - The 'Miracle'
Queensland appeared down and out in the opening game of the 1994 series as they trailed NSW 12-4 late in the game. With five minutes of play remaining, a try to Willie Carne and conversion by Mal Meninga brought the score to 12-10.
From the kick-off NSW trapped Queensland deep in their territory. With less than a minute on the clock Queensland launched one last attack. The play travelled more than 80 metres and went through nine sets of hands (including Langer’s, twice). The last man with the ball was centre Mark Coyne, who beat Brad Fittler, Ricky Stuart and Benny Elias to score, stunning the Sydney crowd into an eerie silence.
6. Game 2, 1984 - The mud, the chip-kick and the cross-bar
Origins’ muddiest clash took place at the SCG in 1984. With Queensland ahead 2-0 in the second half, a fortuitous chip kick from Wally Lewis hit the cross-bar and dropped in front of origin stalwart Greg Dowling. In what could be described as the most dextrous thing Dowling achieved on a footy field in his life, he scooped the ball up with his fingertips an inch off the ground and slid under the posts to score.
This try stands as (arguably) the most memorable in the history of the series.
5. Game 2, 1989 - The last men standing
A victory considered by many, including Wally Lewis, to be Queensland’s greatest ever Origin performance.
Before half-time Queensland lost Allan Langer, Mal Meninga and Paul Vautin to injuries. Early in the second half they also lost Michael Hancock and were left with no reserves. Bob Lindner played much of the second half with a fractured ankle, coming off with five minutes to play during which time Queensland held on with 12 men to claim a series victory.
4. Game 3, 2001 - Allan Langer returns
With the series locked at 1-1, much fanfare surrounded NSW captain Brad Fittler who would be playing his last game for the Blues. All the while, Queensland coach Wayne Bennett needed to find himself a playmaker and hatched a fitting send-off for Allan Langer. Langer was plying his trade in England at the time after retiring from the Broncos in 1999.
‘Alf’ set up three tries in the first half and scored one in the second. Queensland went on to win the match 40-14 in one of the more dominating displays in Origin history, giving Langer a fitting farewell from representative football.
3. 1995 Series - Paul Vautin 3 def Phil Gould 0
A difficult period for rugby league as a result of the Super League split. Players signed to the Super League competition were ineligible to play, which meant Queensland had to field a side from players outside of the Brisbane Broncos club. Consequently, Queensland started as rank outsiders to win the series.
Leading 2-0 at half-time of game one, Queensland captain Trevor ‘The Axe’ Gillmeister did some quick calculations, and pointed out to his team-mates that if NSW don’t score, Queensland win. Withstanding wave after wave of attacking raids, Queensland held on to win the match 2-0, the lowest scoring Origin game ever.
NSW were expected to return to form in game two in Sydney, but Queensland’s unheralded line-up dominated and clinched the series.
The Sydney media were ruthless in their criticism of the NSW side, which went into the third game desperate to avoid a 3-0 whitewash.
Gillmeister, in hospital with a knee injury on the morning of the third match, checked himself out and turned up to the Queensland dressing room with his footy boots. Coach Vautin, upon seeing his captain, knew then and there that his team could not possibly lose. They didn’t.
2. Game 1, 1980 - State of Origin is born
Interstate rugby league matches had been on the decline for many years, at least in part due to the growth of the semi-professional Sydney-based NSWRL competition which had attracted many Queensland-born players. Between 1959 and 1980 Queensland had won the annual interstate series once.
Queensland administrator Ron McAuliffe proposed an interstate match where players would compete for the state where they were born or first played the game, and the State of Origin concept came into being.
The first two games in 1980 were played under pre-origin conditions, and less than 2000 people turned up to watch NSW beat QLD in Sydney in game two.
Game three, at Lang Park in Brisbane, was the first ‘State of Origin’ game. The match was ridiculed by the Sydney media as a tokenistic and pointless exhibition.
Enter rugby league immortal Arthur Beetson. Beetson, 35 years young, had represented NSW up until that point. Captaining his state for the very first time, he led QLD to a 20-10 victory in front of more than 33 000 jubilant spectators.
Without a QLD victory in that first Origin, one of the most important events in the Australian sporting calendar would most likely have vanished forever.
1. Game 3, 1991 - Wally Lewis says goodbye
If one man is synonymous with State of Origin football that man is Walter James Lewis.
This match would be his 31st and last appearance for Queensland and his 30th as captain. With ten minutes to go the ground announcer at Lang Park reminded the partisan crowd that this would be Lewis’ last game in the maroon jumper. This lifted the crowd and the QLD team to a narrow 14-12 victory. It has since been revealed that Lewis had organised the announcement prior to the match.
After the match Lewis completed a lap of honour with his two young sons. When asked if he was really retiring, he told the crowd that he had ‘a little girl at home who needed him’, a reference to his baby daughter who had recently been diagnosed with a hearing impairment.
His lifting of the State of Origin trophy for the last time has been captured forever in the famous monument that stands outside Suncorp Stadium.
Did we get the countdown right? What’s your favourite Origin memory? Add your comments below.
Pretty much spot on with the list. I thought the miracle try in the last minute would have been a bit closer to number 1, but its there so I cant complain. Wouldn't have bothered with the NSW entry either :)
Other then that, well done.