In a room already full of large men inside the New South Wales camp this week, sat an elephant. The team has been preparing for rugby league’s mission impossible – conjuring a Blues victory in a State of Origin decider in Brisbane on Wednesday. NSW have achieved the feat just twice in more than 40 years and it is one of rugby league’s highest mountains, a fact that so neatly encapsulates Queensland’s Origin dominance.
So a discussion, at least a passing mention of the historical significance, must have come up in the Blues preparations … right? “Not at all,” Blues winger Zac Lomax told reporters bluntly on Monday. “You can buy into the history, you can buy into the speculation of not having too much success up here, but we just need to focus on nailing our game plan, our process, and doing what it takes to win,” he said.
Last week, coach Michael Maguire was asked a similar question. “Yeah, well, I’ve got a group that want to create their own piece of history,” he replied, resisting any credence of Queensland’s dominance in the fixture.
But no rugby league fan underestimates the challenge in front of NSW. Only in 1994 and 2005 has the Lang Park spell been broken. And in the both those games, victory was down to an early Blues blitz. In 1994, Brett Mullins intercepted a loose pass from Steve Renouf in the first half to put the Blues up 18-0. Eleven years later at the renovated Suncorp Stadium, Andrew Johns had a hand in all three tries that put New South Wales up by the same score at half-time.
If Maguire’s men are to do it again in 2024, it will almost certainly be by another script. The Blues delivered a near-perfect first half in game two in Melbourne to level the series. Queensland coach Billy Slater – chasing his third Origin series victory in as many years – is preparing his Maroons to avoid another early pasting.
Among several changes, he has brought in last year’s Dally M medallist Kalyn Ponga to play off the bench after he recovered from a serious foot injury. Ponga missed the 2023 Origin series due to long-lasting concussion symptoms. The inclusion had fans giddy at the prospect of the Knights No 1 playing alongside the NRL’s other great attacking fullback, Reece Walsh.
Despite the anticipation for attacking fireworks, Slater is not getting carried away. “They’re very exciting players,” he said last week. “But at the same time, we need to get our footy right from the start, we can’t be on the back foot like we were in game two, and now we need to raise the standards of our game to to get there.”
Veteran centre Dane Gagai and outside back Selwyn Cobbo also return for the Maroons, replacing the injured Murray Taulagi and Xavier Coates. But the selection of Kurt Capewell at backrow and the dropping of Jaydn Su’a suggests Slater is still tuning his defensive combinations with the opening exchanges in mind.
The Blues are predictably more settled, and Maguire has made just two changes. Bradman Best comes in to replace the injured Latrell Mitchell at centre, and Warriors forward Mitch Barnett has won a place on the bench over Haumole Olakau’atu.
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Best overcame a hamstring injury scare this week, and is at the centre of many of game two’s storylines. He will face his clubmate Gagai, who has served as a mentor in his burgeoning career. “I reckon it’s going to be a good contest,” Best said on Monday. “We’ve obviously trained for a long time against each other, so it’s going to be a good battle.”
The 22-year-old returns to the Origin arena after a debut appearance in game three last year, where he scored twice as the Blues prevented a series sweep. He is a long-time teammate of former Knight Barnett, the 30-year-old forward set to make his debut off the bench. And he has a similar link back to Roosters utility Connor Watson.
The pair are instigators of gentle ribbing of the young centre, whose rectangular presence has birthed several nicknames. “Some people call me a brick,” Best said. “Besser block. Just big neck.” But away from the fun and games, Best said it was tough to watch the first two matches from the sidelines. “I guess everything happens for a reason, and I’m back here now.”
If that logic holds, Queensland’s superiority in Brisbane deciders must be linked to the ferocious atmosphere customary at Suncorp Stadium. While Lomax this week wasn’t prepared to entertain the weight of history on the shoulders – and necks – of the Blues players, he acknowledged the fabled Lang Park crowd. “The atmosphere is a little bit, more ‘chaos’ going on,” he said. “It’s going to be a task, but it’s one that we’re going to be up for.”
