State of Origin 2016: Maroons coach Kevin Walters claims first victory in Origin fire

SIX months ago a heartbroken Kevin Walters felt like rugby league’s nowhere man. Yet now he’s one win away from being an Origin series-winning coach.

SIX months ago a heartbroken Kevin Walters felt like rugby league nowhere man who had wasted a decade of his life.

As the QRL snubbed him initially from the Queensland coaching position, he wondered whether anyone rated his coaching ability.

His family had rarely seen him lower. His self-esteem was shredded. He was told that big voices were saying behind his back he wasn’t up to it and it hurt.

Just in case Kevin Walters didn’t know what he was getting into.

The depth of that barren valley made the peak of Wednesday night’s victory seem like Mt Everest on stilts.

As Walters’s great mate Chris Johns pointed out the one certainty of following Mal Meninga into the State of Origin coaching role was that Walters would get precious little praise if the Maroons won — because that’s what they do — and a blowtorch in his direction if they lost.

Yet Queensland under Walters looked as bloody-minded as Queensland under Meninga or Bennett. The traditional has continued.

Walters stands one win away from being a series winning coach and with that comes all sorts of juicy spin-offs.

The first would be that his bold decision to sack a group of curfew-breakers in his emerging players camp might just have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow rather than a live grenade.

If Queensland win this series it will give the likes of Anthony Milford and Dylan Napa a chance to bake in the oven a little more before they are exposed to the furnace of Origin.

One significant selection room victory was his faith in Dane Gagai who Walters deeply admired since his coaching stint at Newcastle.

Gagia was not flawless but he played with the composure of an Origin veteran with slick handwork taking awkward bombs and a neat try in the corner.

But Walters’s greatest victory was simply to be himself and not overly impose himself on a team whose motivation come from deep within their own collective soul.

He made no attempt to provide the froth and bubble of previous Origin coaches from both sides of the border.

There were no imaginary villains undermining the Maroons, no chilli sauce provided to opposition quotes to make them sound offensive, no referee intimidation, no talking up or talking down the opposition.

Walters didn’t try to impose himself on a playing group that have already done it all.

On match eve, when he said “I’m from Ipswich … we don’t have smoke and mirror up there’’ people thought he was joking. But he was serious. And he was right.

The Ipswich boys have their gags and their crooked grins but there is no side to them. They are not pot-stirrers or verbal game players. They train. They play. They either celebrate or commiserate.

Walters choked up with emotion when he first addressed the team but its just not him to play the villain or the skeleton rattler.

They say the worst thing a sportsman can do is play beyond the bounds of his personality. Walters decided not to go there.

If he goes down, he will go down as Kevin Walters not a Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy clone. He was disappointed his late mother was not there to see his big moment so he flew her three sisters to the game instead.

NSW coach Laurie Daley knows time is running out.

The big story was always going to be the losing coach because they had so much to lose. Laurie Daley is now one loss away from his third series loss from four attempts. The pressure is rising.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten got Queensland mixed up with the Melbourne Storm but there are worse comparisons. Like the Storm, Queensland face questions about their mortality every season and somehow manage to keep Father Time away with a midwinter fend.

Corey Parker was again error free, tireless and skilful. Darius Boyd was as reliable as Santa. Cameron Smith was everywhere. Cooper Cronk, with parts of his ankle as purple as a grape, was courageous and clever.

Queensland enjoyed that winning feeling yet again.

Queenslands ageing forwards were as willing as draft horses and despite the fact thatr the top five forward gainers among the forwards in the first half had Blues jerseys they just kept digging deep.

When Walters was a player he hated letting Queensland down. If Queensland won the night before he would proudly walk his children to school and enjoy the banter and good-natured feedback.

But of the Maroons loss he hated facing the world and would drop the kids off at the gate.

Today he can look the world in the eye and Queensland can feel pleased that its team is in good hands.