State of Origin 2024: All the game-day news and updates for the Queensland Maroons
Queensland assistant coach Josh Hannay says Maroons will play for ‘our people’ and die for their jersey. Follow all the build up to Origin I here.
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Queensland assistant coach Josh Hannay has sent a powerful message to Maroons supporters north of the border, declaring his players will “die for the jersey and die for the state” when they run out for the Origin opener on Wednesday night.
The Maroons are in enemy territory as they look to win a third-straight series under coach Billy Slater, with the visitors the warm favourites in what will be slippery conditions in Sydney’s west.
Queensland’s passion has always been something they’ve spruiked, and Hannay says it’ll be their “superpower” going into game one.
“The one thing I’ll say to our supporters back home who we love and represent is that our guys are acutely aware of what this football team means to them every time they take the field and put the jersey on,” he said.
“Every one of them will go out tonight and die for the jersey and die for the state.
“I know they’re strong words, but that’s literally how our guys feel about representing the people of Queensland.
“Our connection to the state is our superpower. We play for our people and we’ll play for our people again tonight.”
COULD THE MATILDAS KNOCK ‘BORING’ ORIGIN OFF TOP SPOT?
NRL bosses are facing a nervous wait amid fears Australia’s love affair with the Matildas could see State of Origin dethroned as the nation’s television ratings showpiece.
There is a view State of Origin has become a promotional bore with NSW and Queensland stars refusing to give their rivals any ammunition ahead of tonight’s series opener at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
The tight-lipped Origin camps have opened the door for Football Australia, which is basking in the afterglow of another monumental broadcasting triumph for the mighty Matildas.
Australia’s women’s football team is smashing records like dinner plates at a Greek wedding, with a record 76,798 fans attending Accor Stadium to watch the Matildas beat China 2-0 on Monday night in their final match before the 2024 Olympics.
The Matildas won the Monday night TV ratings with a bumper total reach of 2.62 million, national viewing average of 1.095m, plus an extra 101,000 viewers in digital streaming.
The game was the biggest-ever football match on Channel 10 and the highest-reaching event of the year on the network.
The Matildas attracted more than twice the eyeballs of last Sunday’s NRL between the Roosters and Cowboys, which posted a reach of 1.264m with a national average of 547,000.
Now State of Origin is under siege as the NRL’s TV juggernaut.
The most recent Origin clash - last year’s Game 3 dead rubber - had a viewership of 2.6 million as the Blues avoided a 3-0 sweep by beating the Maroons at Homebush.
Game Two posted 3.2 million, while the 2023 series opener was a smash hit with a 3.4 million viewership - representing Origin’s highest audience since the series opener of 2018.
The 2023 series had a total audience of 9.2 million.
NRL hierarchy will be sweating on Channel 9’s figures of the 2024 series opener after a lukewarm Origin build-up was swamped by the Matildas tidal wave that saw green-and-gold football fans flood to Accor Stadium on Monday night.
The Blues have attracted criticism for hiding away from rugby league fans by shifting their base to the Blue Mountains - 70km away from their traditional home at Coogee.
Tonight’s Origin opener is on track for 80,000 fans at Homebush in what NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo hopes is a promising precursor to another TV ratings bonanza on Channel 9.
THE NUMBERS THAT PROVE MAROONS HAVE HAAS’S MEASURE
These are the damning statistics that have put pressure on Payne Haas to muscle up for the Blues.
NSW coach Michael Maguire has blasted suggestions Haas hasn’t fired in the Origin arena, despite official data showing the superstar prop is 30 per cent less effective for the Blues than the Broncos.
In 492 minutes of Origin action for the Blues, Haas has no line breaks, no tries, no line-break assists and no try assists as the Maroons have swarmed the 118kg enforcer in midfield.
Even in metres gained and post-contact metres, two of the most vital barometers of a prop’s performance, Haas’ numbers are well down in the code’s toughest arena compared to club football.
Since debuting for the Broncos in 2018, Haas has averaged 158 running metres per game compared to just 111m in NSW colours - a 29.7 per cent decrease at Origin level.
In post-contact metres, Haas’ average drops from 69m at NRL level to 46m for the Blues, with the NSW bookend struggling to assert the midfield dominance that he displays weekly for the Broncos.
Since his NSW debut in 2019, Haas has won four of 11 contests for a 36 per cent success rate and has been a member of three Blues series losses in the past four years.
Supporters of Haas argue the 24-year-old is judged too harshly and simply a victim of his own brilliance for a Broncos club at which he has won a record five consecutive Paul Morgan Medals as Brisbane’s best-and-fairest.
Ominously for Queensland, Haas’ most recent Origin performance was his best, with the Test powerhouse charging for 165 metres with four tackle busts and four offloads in NSW’s loss in Game Two last year.
FORMER BRONCO’S ROLE IN MENTORING TWO YOUNG MAROONS
No matter how testing it may be running out against NSW in Sydney Xavier Coates knows it won’t be as scary as the man in the Jigsaw mask.
Coates and Tom Dearden, whose rugby league careers link back to their junior days on the Gold Coast where Dearden’s uncle once urged the Broncos to sign Coates, will play their first State of Origin matches together tonight.
One man watching with particular interest will be their former teammate and landlord, Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough, who hosted the duo at his house at Camp Hill for six months in 2019 when they were 19-year-olds finding their way in football and the world.
”I know what it was like to be a young guy taken in and we had a couple of spare bedrooms and thought it might be a good chance to take them in,’’ McCullough said.
“They were good for me too. A tough period was coming for me at the Broncos and they made it fun.
“They are both from great families. Their families should be very proud of the boys they are and the men they are becoming. You could see why Craig Bellamy would chase Xavier at the Storm and Tom would be Cowboys captain already.’’
McCullough smiles at the memory of terrorising Coates by waking him up wearing a gruesome mask from the 2017 horror movie Jigsaw.
He said both youngsters were still learning about life in their time under his roof.
”They both needed to learn what food costs and what a rates bill was and thought someone just turned up to read your meter and it was all for free.
”It cost me a few bucks but it was worthwhile. They are getting $30,000 a game now so I am expecting some money back shortly!’’
During one press conference at the Broncos in 2019 McCullough announced that “Tom cut up broccoli for the first time last night but I’m not sure if he has made his bed today.’’
On Tuesday nights the boys would have tea and dessert at the Three Monkeys Cafe in the West End, chewing over their form and fortunes.
”They were a joy to be around. They learnt a lot about wins and losses because Tom had a tough start to his NRL career. I tried to tell them about the great things about rugby league but also the down side as well in terms of injuries and losses.’’
The only fault McCullough could find with the duo was that they were “disgraceful’’ cooks though that problem was solved when McCullough or Carlie would do the cooking.
”We would do the cooking and they would clean up. They were the rules. You would need a couple of kilograms of mince for spaghetti bolognaise for Xavier - he could consume a fair bit.
“He was growing and growing and eating a fair bit of food, the big fella.
“They were so polite. We would do things at the dinner table each night about what we learned and what we were grateful for. We had a good laugh around the table which was great.’’
Coates looks back at the experience fondly. “Tom and I were travelling up from the Gold Coast and didn’t have anywhere to stay and Andrew and (his wife) took us in and we are eternally grateful,’’ he said.
BRING IT ON: WALSH CAN’T WAIT TO CONFRONT NSW PEST
Maroons superstar Reece Walsh says he can’t wait to lock horns with Jarome Luai and is relishing the prospect of more fireworks with his NSW arch rival in Wednesday night’s Origin opener.
Walsh’s bring-it-on stance came as Maroons legend Corey Parker warned the flying fullback will be targeted by the Blues because of the belief he is prone to being baited into a brain explosion.
Queensland wonder boy Walsh and NSW’s pantomime villain Luai will square off in the 2024 series opener at Sydney’s Accor Stadium for the first time since their explosive Origin altercation last year.
The duo had a running battle in the 2023 series. Luai accused Walsh of pulling his hair, then running away from him, in the Maroons’ 26-18 Origin I win at Adelaide Oval.
The feud then caught fire in Game Two at Suncorp Stadium when the pair were sent-off, and later fined, for trading headbutts as Walsh had the last laugh, pointing to his Queensland jersey as delirious Maroons fans lapped up back-to-back series wins.
Now Walsh is back in Maroon, this time on NSW’s turf, and the bold and brash custodian declared he won’t be taking a backward step if Luai and the Blues attempt to rattle his cage.
“Luai, yeah, it will be good,” Walsh said with a wry grin when asked about renewing hostilities with the NSW pivot.
“We’re two really competitive people.
“There’s people you want to play with and against and give their all.
“It’s exciting (coming up against Luai), it’s going to be good.
“To be honest, I don’t really care what they (NSW) do over there.
“I am focused on Queensland and I’m prepared for what I need to do when I go out there.
“All the best to him.”
Luai has the wood on Walsh at Homebush.
Accor Stadium could easily represent a house of horrors for Walsh, who was left heartbroken after Luai’s Panthers scored in the dying minutes of last year’s NRL grand final to snatch the premiership from the Broncos.
Four Broncos players missed Nathan Cleary on his way to the title-winning try. A shattered Walsh came up with the final fatal missed tackle, but the Maroons maestro can exorcise his Olympic Stadium demons by silencing Luai and the Blues in Origin I.
Parker believes the Blues suspect Walsh is a ticking time bomb. He urged the high-octane Maroons No. 1 not to give NSW players any ammunition.
“There’s no doubt for me Reece will be targeted,” said 19-game Origin lock Parker.
“When you are as talented as Reece and pose such a threat, he is going to be a target.
“But instead of being cranky about it, use it as motivation in the right way.
“The Blues will try and get under his skin, but that happens with all the best players.
“My advice to Reece is just roll with the punches. I’m not targeting a bloke if I know they won’t react. I wouldn’t bother targeting Jake Trbojevic, for example, or Cam McInnes because they just go about their business without a fuss.
“But with Reece, NSW may think he is susceptible to losing his cool.
“In saying that, Reece is a confident kid and he has never taken a backward step either, so he seems to relish it.”
BURNING MAROONS QUESTIONS: SUPER-SUB, SKIPPER, X-FACTOR
The five key areas that will make or break Queensland in Origin I.
1. CHERRY RIPE
Winning Origin games is all about holding your nerve under pressure. And few playmakers have the ice-cool talismanic touch of Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
Cherry-Evans has skippered Queensland to three Origin series victories and has played 21 more interstate games than his rival Nicho Hynes, who will feel the crushing pressure of a Blues boa constrictor in his NSW halfback debut.
The danger for NSW is that Hynes grabs and snatches at a game at which Cherry-Evans has excelled.
The Maroons captain put the boot into NSW, literally, last season. Cherry-Evans engineered Queensland’s 1511 kicking metres to NSW’s paltry 1022m in the first two games. His control, composure and game management was so astute the Blues went out in straight sets.
Without injured halves partner-in-crime Cameron Munster, Cherry-Evans needs the performance of his Origin career at age 35.
2. SPEED KILLS
If the Blues and Maroons had a 100-metre sprint race, there is every chance three Queenslanders – Reece Walsh, Xavier Coates and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow – would walk away with gold, silver and bronze.
Speed kills in Origin. In an arena where every metre counts, creating space is crucial and the Maroons have the speed merchants to prise open holes that seemingly don’t exist and burn NSW from anywhere on the park.
The ‘Hammer’ laid a marker in the 2023 series when he torched NSW with two tries in Origin I, including the series opener after just eight minutes as Blues defenders struggled to contain his speed and freakish swerve out wide.
Queensland will stretch the Blues defence, imposing an imperceptible pressure that damage can be done at any moment.
3. REECE LIGHTNING
James Tedesco has been – and still is – a magnificent servant for the Blues, but there’s every chance the champion fullback baton gets passed to Maroons wonder boy Walsh by series end.
If Walsh is at his rarefied best, the Maroons win this series. There is no player in the NSW team with Walsh’s intoxicating mix of speed, skill and big-game daring and, like all great entertainers, the bigger the stage, the more they bask in the spotlight.
A former Queensland Origin playmaker once told me he didn’t want the ball in clutch moments. He simply lacked the self-belief to be an Origin hero.
Walsh has no doubts. He knows he belongs and, like Johnathan Thurston, he wants to own the big moments.
The 21-year-old heads to Homebush with the hot hand. He is unbeaten in two games for the Maroons and while Walsh has lacked patience for the Broncos this season, his hero, Queensland coach Billy Slater, is a calming influence.
4. FORWARD THINKING
In boxing parlance, they say styles make fights. The Queensland and NSW packs are a contrasting window to the tactical souls of their coaches.
The Blues are bigger. NSW coach Michael Maguire has an extra forward at his disposal and in 118kg prop Payne Haas, he has a man some 23kg heavier than his Queensland front-row rival, the 95kg terrier Reuben Cotter.
But Maroons coach Billy Slater is a sweet scientist with an attention-to-detail that he imparts on his players. Under Slater’s coaching, Queensland players rarely beat themselves. Their systems are finely tuned and the Maroons’ forwards have the foot speed and workrate to keep Queensland in the game even when the Blues get the invariable momentum swing.
Incredibly, NSW made more yardage than Queensland in all three games last season. The Blues ran for 4521 metres to Queensland’s 4111m. But in Cotter, Lindsay Collins and Pat Carrigan, the Maroons have forward bravehearts who scramble well and drive standards.
5. SUPER SELWYN
There’s no other way to put it. The selection of Selwyn Cobbo on the bench has been so forensically dissected it will be viewed as a boom-or-bust tactical decision by Slater.
NSW’s selection of another hulking centre, Siosifa Talakai, in 2022 underlines why naming a back on the bench in Origin can be problematic.
Talakai played 17 minutes in his Blues debut and 23 in his second game. NSW lost the series. He hasn’t been seen in the Origin arena since.
There’s a different dimension to Cobbo. Unlike Talakai, who trades on brute power, Cobbo not only has size, but the instinctive magic of so many Indigenous players to pop up in the right place at the right time.
At some stage, Cobbo’s time will come in Origin I. At 190cm and 105kg, Cobbo is bigger than NSW prop Jake Trbojevic with more skill, equal courage and twice the speed.
NSW cannot coach against game-breaking instinct and that makes Cobbo the Maroon X-factor every Blue should fear.
Originally published as State of Origin 2024: All the game-day news and updates for the Queensland Maroons
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