Origin 2005
A strange ol' series looking back on it.
At the time, I thought it was as good as time as any to win it and was pretty confident about doing so until the opening 20 minutes of the decider where Mini took a grubber and nearly ran the length of the field. I was caught off guard and couldn't believe the script didn't go the way I expected it to.
Looking back, I'm not too surprised. JT was a rookie while both Lockyer, Smith & Slater were off their best. Factor in a pretty ordinary backline, the loss of Price and to me it's a total no-brainer.
Origin I was a classic game and for the longest time was the last 'classic' game in my view. It just had so many moments that got fans talking, plenty of drama and some great action. For me, it was the game that confirmed Kimmorley was a good but not a great player.
Origin II was all about Joey's performance. At the time, I thought it was the typical deal where he got his big performance out of the way in Sydney and when it really mattered he'd disappear but it didn't turn out that way. Not a whole lot to this one, other than it's a bit more competitive than most would remember.
Origin III was a disaster for me. First Origin game I went to live and I was convinced I would be there to see Queensland win the shield for the first time in years and ended up leaving wondering when Queensland would ever be able to win again.
I still remember some old codger on the bus passionately declaring that we'll get them next year and the year after that and so on and thinking he had too much XXXX. Little did I know...
Origin 2006
Oh hell yeah. Sweetest win of them all.
Despite the doom and gloom that plagued the aftermath of 2005, things actually looked pretty bright in 2006. Queensland were arguably stronger while NSW sans Minichiello, Johns and Kennedy were weaker. It was always going to be tight, but things were looking bright.
Then Origin I knocked me and the rest of Queensland on their ass. I couldn't believe that after all that build up, Queensland dished up one of the weakest performances I'd seen. The Blues played well, don't get me wrong, but Queensland just seemed so unsure about themselves and were making some real basic errors that it was really hard to stomach. History showed the Maroons only lost by 1 but it may as well been 20 and it was scary to be looking down the barrel of four straight defeats.
That was until Origin II which was the most enjoyable win since Alfie's return in 2001. Just so satisfying to see the Maroons turn it on and have it all go right on the occasion. My faith had well and truly been restored.
But then the build up to Origin III brought me down a peg. The Maroons would now be without Hunt, Hodges & Bell meaning only Tate was the original survivor and Hannay would come in from Queensland Cup. I was still quietly confident largely because the Blues were dumb enough to pick Gasnier at five eigth but I'd been burnt so many times I had zero expectations.
That game had to be one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters I'd been on. The first half had been pretty tense and fairly evenly poised at 4 all. But of course, I felt like I had heart ripped from my chest in that opening ten minutes. From TC being denied a fair try to NSW scoring two controversial tries, including one that was flat-out wrong I thought we'd gotten screwed and felt disillusioned with the sport. I think Queensland felt the same way too and despite attempt after attempt, it just seemed like it wasn't the Maroons night. When Wesser threw Smith a forward pass, I thought it was game over and basically sat on LU while some joker from NSW started singing We Are The Champions which hurt because I wanted to belt out that song and had been dying to do so for so long.
Then the pieces started coming together.
Tahu suffered an injury which caused him to come off.
Schifcofske then ran the ball from dummy half, spun in the tackle found JT who stepped past the defence before finding Tate who in familiar fashion ran down the right hand touchline before slamming the ball down under the post to give Queensland one last sniff. I tell ya, watching Tate slam that ball down was one of the most stressful moments as a supporter, I felt a Walker moment coming on and had it happened there I think I would have had a aneurysm.
We were back but time was against us and I had no idea where the points were going to come from and then...it all just fell into place. The Blues were slow to get back, intercepted by Locky, he'll score and in a moment that really summed it up Rabs screamed "You can't take it off him, you won't take it off him" and for the first time in 4 years we were starring down the barrel of a series win.
Despite some anxious moments, the ball would suddenly go dead and Queensland despite everything that could have possibly gone wrong took it and I had never been prouder to be a fan than I was that evening.
You better believe I had Freddy playing to the wee hours of the morning, just so elated with what I'd seen.
Lockyer's speech was great too. We'd waited 4 years but for the next 12 months, it was ours.
Little did he know...
