Queensland Maroons best State of Origin side - 3 games or less
Here is our best Queensland Maroons State of Origin side made up of footballers who played three Origin games of less.
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Some of Queensland’s greatest State of Origin players did not have long Origin careers.
Most did have long careers, but here we name a mighty Maroons side made up of players who played one series or less.
THE TEAM
10. Artie Beetson (captain-coach)
Roma-raised, the immortal Beetson is a legend. It was why there is a statue of him out the front of Suncorp Stadium. After two seasons with Redcliffe, he was monumental player for the Balmain Tigers and Eastern Suburbs Roosters, winning back-to-back premierships in 1974-75. Renowned for his love of pies, he was a ball-playing prop with the pace of a centre and the skill of a halfback.
His farewell season back at Redcliffe in 1981 almost brought the Dolphins a premiership - Redcliffe were seconds off winning - before become Queensland coach. It was Beetson who moved the great Wally Lewis - who had played lock in the previous four seasons with Valleys - to five-eight. When Beetson was named an immortal long after his career, Beetson finished the interview with this journalist by saying: “Not bad (as in an achievement) for a black fella”. He was a freakish player and a loveable bloke who enjoyed saying g’day to the rank and file on the hill or in the outer.
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9. John Lang
Known by the younger generation as an NRL coach with Cronulla, Penrith (premiership winner) and Souths, Lang was an Easts Tigers stalwart who played or coached in half a dozen grand finals for the Tigers. He was so good that when he retired in 1979, the great Bobby Fulton jumped on the phone and begged him to play a farewell season with him at the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in Sydney in 1980.
And what a season it was. Indeed no one will ever better his record that final season. He played for NSW against Queensland in the traditional interstate series, and then played for Queensland against the Blues in the Origin match just weeks later. He also played for Australia and helped the Roosters into the 1980 grand final. Lang is also a great bloke, a true blue salt of the earth Queenslanders.
8. Danny Nutley (1 game)
A Redcliffe junior, Nutley’s one game for Queensland came amid a rare Origin shambles when Queensland had their pants pulled down by NSW in the deciding match of the 2005 season at Lang Park. But despite NSW leading 30-nil, and with all the wreckage around him, Nutley kept his head, played his own game and he did Queensland proud. We take great delight in naming him on this side.
11. Bruce Walker (1 game)
A premiership winner with the Manly Sea Eagles, “Goldie” Walker mixed it with the best in the business during an outstanding NSWRL career with Manly and North Sydney. He was named on the 1978 Kangaroo tour, one of many Manly players who made the 28 man squad after their premiership success.
12. Ethan Lowe (1 game)
Lowe’s Queensland selection came late in his career, but few have been more deserving. A Cowboys premiership winner, Lowe got better with age, culminating in his premiership and Origin selection.
13. Rod Reddy (1 game)
Reddy is one of the greats. From Rockhampton, Reddy joined St George as a 17-year-old and went on to win two premierships with the Dragons and go on two Kangaroo tours. A member of Queensland’s inaugural 1980 Origin team, Reddy was so good he could ball play before or in the line like Artie Beetson, or be used as a wide runner with enough pace to run 30m or 40m to score. He was just a brilliant player and was third chosen in this side behind Beetson and Lang.
7. Corey Norman (1 games)
Did we ever see the best of Corey Norman? I don’t think so. But he was an excellent player who we glimpsed at his best alongside Ben Hunt at the Dragons last season. And like a vast majority of Queenslanders, when he got his one game for the Maroons he played well - as a fullback.
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6. Grant Rix (1 game)
An Allora junior from the Darling Downs, Rix was an outstanding player whose career was sadly curtailed by injury. He had successive knee operations and was forced to retire aged 24 years, but not before playing with Valleys in the BR, Halifax in England and the Brisbane Broncos.
5. Joe Kilroy (3 games)
“Smokin Joe” was an electrifying fullback and winger, the likes of which is rarely glimpsed. Think Matt Bowen and you get an idea of Kilroy’s x-factor. He was a two-time BRL premiership winner with Norths Devils and Brisbane Brothers, and was a Brisbane Broncos foundation player.
Once playing for Brothers against Norths at Bishop Park, Kilroy caught the ball from the kick-off and ran 90m to score. He was that type of player.
4. Josh Hannay (2 games)
Another talent from the Central Queensland coalfields, Hannay was as steady as they come, a tradesman who rarely let his side down. Hannay had the honour of playing in the 2006 Game 3 decider, the match which started Queensland’s run of eight series in a row. Hannay was also a grand goal kicker.
3. Graham Quinn (1 game)
A two-time premiership winner with the St George Dragons, Iona College old boy Quinn was an outstanding centre for Queensland, Brisbane Brothers and then the Dragons in the 1970s. He also played one Test for Australia in 1980 and toward the end of his career, when Queensland’s backs had been beset by injury, he had the honour of playing an Origin game in a winning side at Lang Park (1982). Prior to that he had been a Queensland representative pre-Origin during the 1970s. Quinn was also going to be chosen on the wing for the first ever Origin game in 1980, but was injured playing club football for St George the afternoon the team was being finalised.
2. Jharal Yow Yeh (3 games)
Yow Yeh is the best back named in this side, a brilliant winger who would have played 20-plus Origins had he not broken his ankle playing a club match for the Brisbane Broncos. Fortunately he was not lost to the game and has remained a valuable member of the Broncos’ staff.
1. Clinton Schifcofske (2 games)
What a player. And don’t take my word for it. No less a judge than the great, late Bobby Fulton once said in any other era, Schifcofske would have been the Test fullback. But his career coincided with Darren Lockyer and then Billy Slater. He was from the Central Queensland coalfields.
Reserves:
Ty Williams (3 games)
A North Queensland Cowboys favourite, Williams is yet another elite rugby league player who hailed from Innisfail. He is best remembered for a 110m try against Manly at Brookvale Oval when he collected a Manly attacking kick on the deadline ball line and ran the length of the field.
David Stagg (1 game)
Every team needs a David Stagg. The Padua College old boy was a defensive minder for Darren Lockyer when the great Lockyer moved from fullback to five-eight. A Broncos premiership winner, he could play centre or second row and was renowned for his work rate.
John Dowling (3 games)
A Murwillumbah product, Dowling was an outstanding hooker and forward for Easts and Wynnum Manly in the 1970s, and then with the St George Dragons in the 1980s. His representative career was curtailed by the presence of John Lang, but he was an outstanding rake in a scrum while also having a high work rate in the ruck.
Bruce Astill (1 game)
Mal Meninga’s mentor in his early days at the Souths Magpies in Brisbane, Astill was the reserve back in Queensland historic first ever Origin in 1980. He never got on the field.
But he was one of the leading BRL players of the time who helped take Souths from 1970s battlers to premierships in 1979 and 1981. Toward the end of his career he was a successful lock.
Antonio Kaufusi
The brother of incumbent Queensland State of Origin forward Felise, Kaufusi was a powerhouse front rower who unfortunately broke his leg in a match which spearheaded Queensland to another series win.
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