It wasn’t Wally Lewis, Allan Langer, Gene Miles, Peter Jackson or Trevor Gillmeister.

“I found it the other day … let me read what it says on the plaque: The Captain’s Trophy, 1987 series,’’ said Greg Conescu, the Maroons hooker for whom the description “durable’’ fits snugly.

“I haven’t seen it for ages. It came before the Wally Lewis Medal (which since 2004 has been presented the best player from either state, not just Queensland).

“I think Wally came up with the idea and he and the team management put it together. The official award started the year after.’’

Conescu has not put much stock on hoarding memorabilia from his playing days, unless it’s to go to charity, like the fundraising nights which have helped raise $120,000 for a school for disabled children in Indonesia.

“A couple of months ago, Tony Currie actually found a 1988 jersey of mine I’d donated to a charity. He found it in a pawn shop for $45,’’ he said.

“That reminds me, I have to get back to TC and give him the money.’’

Thirty years ago, Conescu topped Queensland’s tackle count with 33 in what was practically the most “must win’’ game of all the must-win Origin matches the Maroons have played.

Queensland had lost to a late try by NSW’s Mark McGaw in Game One of the 191087 series, meaning the Maroons had lost four Origin matches in succession going into the second game at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

To watch this match on YouTube is to take a time tunnel ride.

Both hookers, Conescu and NSW’s Royce Simmons, were penalised for feet across in the SCG match. They were wearing No. 12 jerseys, not No.9. That’s how long ago it was.

It was also the most recent Origin match at the SCG, although when ANZ Stadium is rebuilt over the next two or three years one or two of the showcase games might go back there as its 46,000 capacity is the next biggest in Sydney.

The muddy condition of the SCG cricket pitch area after heavy rain that week is also something which modern day NRL players do not have to contend with.

The threat of rain did not dissuade those wanting to be in the biggest crowd for an Origin game in Sydney to date, 42,048.

“There was talk a day or two beforehand they might call that game off because it had been pouring in Sydney,’’ Gillmeister said.

“There’s no doubt it’s the muddiest game I ever played in my life. I didn’t mind the slosh because it kept everyone down to my pace.’’

Conescu said the conditions and the rule at the time that teams had two reserves and no interchange made it a different game for forwards, placing a premium on stamina.

“You don’t get the bog and the puddles on the ground these days. That match was just a slog,’’ he said.

“Interchange wasn’t my go ... you didn’t go off until you were dragged off.

“While the intensity hasn’t changed, today’s football is a different product. It was a fantastic first half in the first Origin game this year.’’

Game Two of 1987 was the one in which the “Queenslander’’ call was voiced in an Origin match for the first time, Maroons Gary Belcher and Gene Miles remember.

“It was probably Fatty (Paul Vautin) and he never got much of the credit for it,” Belcher said.

“I’d say it a lot from fullback. ‘Queenslander.’ It’s just what we are.’’

Wally Lewis remembers that as early as 1984 Vautin had been saying “Queenslander’’ as a catch phrase around the team.

“Fatty would walk along with his head wobbling as he does, saying, ‘Queenslander, Queenslander,’’’ Lewis recounts with a laugh.

Queensland’s Origin teams were at one of their occasional crossroads in that match in Sydney.

A loss would mean a third series defeat by NSW and a second consecutive loss for Wayne Bennett, who was well advanced in talks with the Broncos consortium about leaving Canberra to coach the Brisbane team entering the NSWRL competition in 1988.

“I’d played four Origin games and they’d all been losses, so I was starting to wonder if it was me,’’ Belcher said.

“I remember Wayne making it quite clear to us that if we didn’t turn the series around in Game Two, heads would roll. I remember thinking, ‘That’s me. That’s not Wally and Geno.’ But they’d shown faith in the team.’’

Asked why there was a still core of belief in his team after four losses, Lewis said: “A lot of us had come through together and had some success, through to the 1985 series anyway.

“At the end of the 1984 series, (QRL executive chairman) Ron McAuliffe told a group of reporters we had a group of players who would be the backbone of the Queensland team.

“He said, ‘It’s the Lord who’s most responsible.’ He reeled off all these names from guys who were born within a couple of years of each other. That was what he meant by saying that.

“Having Bennett in charge, he was in the right place at the right time. If a tough decision needed to be made, he was willing to make it.’’

In Game Two, NSW’s Andrew Farrar scored a try in the sixth minute when Maroons winger Dale Shearer made a handling error.

“I played 20 Origin games and there are moments in Origin you think of. I remember Gilly’s hit on (Steve) Folkes,’’ Conescu said.

Gillmeister remembers it too, with something of a shudder. The audio on the match replay captures an audible “oooh’’ from the spectators as Gillmeister, chasing back in defence, launched himself at his Blues opposite number in the first half.

“Michael O’Connor made a big run and he kept coming my way. Steve Folkes is right in front of me when he got the ball and I hit him from behind, a little high around the ear,’’ Gillmeister said.

“I heard him snoring as he hit the ground. I thought, ‘I’m off.’ Wally actually went up to The Grasshopper (referee Barry Gomersall, arguing the tackle wasn’t that bad).”

It wasn’t even a penalty. It was a scrum because Folkes dropped the ball.

Folkes, a tenacious Canterbury second-rower, bravely played on once he regained his equilibrium, because that was what league players were expected to do. He was replaced after a few minutes by clubmate Paul Langmack.

A try from dummy-half by Shearer kept Queensland only two points behind entering the last 20 minutes. Watching the second half through eyes attuned to 2017-style rugby league a number of things about the second half are prominent, particularly how willing both teams were to slip a pass in a tackle, even in such greasy conditions.

Queensland turned the ball over 26 times, but won, 12-6, three tries to one.

By comparison in 2016, Queensland turned the ball over 24 times in three matches in that series, playing in an era in which teams are implored to play out their sets.

In Fox Sports Stats’ breakdown of Origin II of 1987, the workload of Maroons prop Greg Dowling catches the eye — 26 hit-ups for 154m gained.

In the past four Origin matches, only one forward ran the ball more than 17 times — David Klemmer, who took it up 19 times for 194m on May 31 at Suncorp Stadium.

“He was great to play with, GD,’’ Conescu said of Dowling.

“In that game (Game Two of 1987), I threw him a hospital pass. I thought I’d killed him.

“I think it was Les Davidson who jumped out of the line without me seeing him. Poor GD, I ran up to him and while he had blue eyes, his eye were rolling like (the dials on) a poker machine _ blue, red, blue, red.

“GD shook it off and said he was all right.’’

Dowling was still probing forward when Miles got out of dummy-half, creating uncertainty in the NSW tryline defence, and passed to the Maroons prop to crash over in Brett Kenny’s tackle.

That 8-6 lead was extended when Lewis went left inside NSW’s defensive 22m area and Miles lofted a one-hand pass over the top to winger Colin Scott.

The NSW media was mostly crooked at Queensland’s 9-4 advantage in the penalties from Mackay referee Gomersall, which included a run of eight out of nine penalties to the Maroons mid-match.

Gomersall told The Courier-Mail he was convinced he had refereed well.

“I could not give a continental what any of them have to say,’’ Gomersall said.

The series decider in Brisbane was four weeks later and despite the clamour to see what happened next in Origin combat, there was blanket media attention on which Brisbane-based players would join what became the Broncos or sought a future with another NSWRL club.

Thirty years after he was the Queensland player of the series, Conescu lives on the outskirts of Brisbane’s west. He is an investor and director in Hawk Hire, a Mackay company which hires out air compressors, and also hires elevated work platforms through the company Action Access.

The last Australian Test player picked while not being at a top-flight club, in 1984 when playing for Gladstone Brothers, Conescu says he has been involved for years in sportsman’s nights which raise funds for charities, including Rotary.

“We have raised $120,000 for a school for disabled kids in Jakarta called Rawinala,’’ he said.

“I donated a few jerseys to different charities over the years. Wally Fullerton Smith and I are doing a fundraiser for Thailand’s fledging Rugby League in Thailand on the night of the second Origin game. A mate of mine is involved in the Thailand Rugby League.’’

Queensland: Gary Belcher; Colin Scott, Peter Jackson, Gene Miles, Dale Shearer; Wally Lewis (capt), Allan Langer; Greg Dowling, Greg Conescu, Martin Bella, Trevor Gillmeister, Paul Vautin, Bob Lindner. Res: Tony Currie, Ian French.

NSW: Garry Jack; Michael O’Connor, Mark McGaw, Brian Johnson, Andrew Farrar; Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling; David Boyle, Royce Simmons, Pat Jarvis, Steve Folkes, Les Davidson, Wayne Pearce (capt). Res: Des Hasler, Paul Langmack.

Queensland 12 (Shearer, Dowling, Scott tries) d NSW 6 (Farrar try, O’Connor goal), at Sydney Cricket Ground, June 16, 1987. Crowd: 42,048. Referee: Barry Gomersall.