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| Billy Slater ©Action Photographics |
1. Billy Slater try
Slater set Suncorp Stadium alight in 2004 when he scored one of Origin’s most spectacular individual tries. At full flight, he regained a Darren Lockyer chip kick and then kicked again, arcing around Blues fullback Anthony Minichiello to win the race for the ball in the NSW in-goal.
2. Mark Coyne try
Coyne’s try which capped a phenomenal Queensland comeback in the opening game of the 1994 series was a supreme team effort. It began deep in Maroons’ territory and as the ball passed through 10 pairs of hands, the movement swept from the right side of the field to the left and back to the right again where Coyne propped in-field and reached out for the line to beat two despairing NSW defenders.
3. Mortimer magic
NSW halfback Steve Mortimer and coach Terry Fearnley spent months plotting the Blues campaign in 1985, working determinedly to find a chink in the armour of Queensland marvel Wally Lewis. Their plans climaxed in the second game of the series when a Brett Kenny try helped lift the Blues to a 2-0 series win. An emotional Mortimer sunk to his knees at fulltime as he rejoiced in one of his greatest moments.
4. Greg Dowling try
An SCG quagmire and was an unlikely setting for one of Origin’s most memorable moments. It came in the second game of 1984 when Maroons’ captain Wally Lewis attempted to trap the Blues in-goal with a kick late in the tackle count. The ball struck the crossbar and Queensland prop Greg Dowling, who had been chasing through to harass NSW fullback Garry Jack, somehow managed to catch the mud-encrusted leather centimetres from the ground, plunging over for an unforgettable four-pointer.
5. Wally Lewis heroics
Queensland’s position was desperate in the second game of the 1989 series as injury cut down star players Mal Meninga, Allan Langer, Paul Vautin, Michael Hancock and Bob Lindner, but it was a situation tailor-made for an Origin great to cement his legend. Wally Lewis, nearing 30 years of age, seized the initiative and produced a superlative performance, capped by a brilliant individual try in which he charged 40 metres to the line.
6. Allan Langer comeback
There has never been a cloak and dagger trick to match the return of Allan Langer to the State of Origin arena in 2001. The former Ipswich halfback had left the NRL in 1999 to play with Warrington in the English Super League but after the Maroons were soundly beaten in the second game of the series coach Wayne Bennett hatched a secret plan for Langer to return for the third game. It was a massive risk but Langer rose to the occasion, starring in a 40-14 victory that secured the series for the Maroons.
7. Arthur Beetson’s debut
State of Origin might never have got off the ground in 1980 if it wasn’t for the passion and commitment of Arthur Beetson. His pride in donning the Maroons jersey for the first time in his career was plain for all to see when he led Queensland into the opening game at Lang Park and his performance silenced the critics who claimed that players who were club-mates on the weekend would take go easy on each other in an Origin match.
8. Lewis-Geyer stoush
The second match of 1991 produced one of the most explosive confrontations in Origin history. Queensland captain Wally Lewis and NSW firebrand Mark Geyer stood eyeball to eyeball trading insults in the lead-up to halftime as referee David Manson desperately tried to keep the lid on. An eruption was averted but the stand-off ensured that the rest of the match was played on a knife’s edge.
9. O’Connor match-winner
NSW winger Michael O’Connor kept alive the Blues’ hopes of a series victory in 1991 when he landed the greatest pressure conversion of his career. Centre Mark McGaw had crashed over for a try in the dying minutes, leveling the scores at 12-all. In driving rain, O’Connor landed the conversion from the sideline, bringing up a famous 14-12 win for the Blues.
10. Maroons 3-0 win
The Super League war had cut a swathe through the game in 1995 and the State of Origin series was one of the early victims. Both states declined to select players aligned with Super League, which left the Maroons at a massive disadvantage. Paul Vautin took charge as coach after Wayne Bennett refused to be “part of a farce” and proceeded to lead the spare parts Maroons to an astonishing 3-0 series victory. It ranks as perhaps the greatest upset in a century of the game in Australia.
