Wayne Bennett’s shock gesture inspiring Queensland for Origin II

He’s no longer the coach of the Queensland Maroons, but Wayne Bennett’s influence is still being felt in the State of Origin arena.

Wayne Bennett was all smiles after Queensland’s shock victory in last year’s triptych. Pic Peter Wallis

Former Maroons coach Wayne Bennett was laughing and joking after being thrashed by NSW last year and key Queensland figures have revealed how they are drawing on the lessons from that poignant moment to turn around their form again.

Bennett was seen laughing twice in the dressing rooms after games in last year’s State of Origin series. The first time was after the 34-10 loss in Game Two at ANZ Stadium when he was cracking jokes with Allan Langer and Maroons players.

The second time was after the series win in Brisbane where he added some dancing to his repertoire while clapping his hands and grinning from ear to ear.

The Maroons brains trust have noted with interest this week how south of the border the up-beat Bennett demeanour after Queensland’s loss last year had the Blues worried. On the flip side it had the Queenslanders in the right mindset and ready to turn the tables, as they must be again on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium after getting walloped 50-6 in Game One.

“I think Wayne did a very good job of moving the group on with his demeanour after we were well beaten. Obviously we did review Game Two after a very tough night out at ANZ but he is a great man manager Wayne,” Queensland prop Christian Welch said.

“He had the ability to get the group back up and positive and around each other. In the space of a couple of days we were back in a really good mindset and that showed in Game Three with how we got out of the blocks. It was a crazy good win.

“What we can learn from that now is all of us knowing we have come back from a bad loss before and we are going to need to again. We owe it to all the Queenslanders out there because our effort in Game One in Townsville just wasn’t good enough.”

Bennett has been replaced by Paul Green as the Maroons’ coach. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans also took plenty from Bennett’s good humour after last year’s defeat in Sydney, but added that the Maroons also learned their lessons quickly as they must do again.

“Wayne is one of the greatest coaches of all time and what works for Wayne maybe doesn’t sometimes work for everyone else but for that environment and situation, he absolutely nailed it because we had to get rid of it,” Cherry-Evans said.

“We were playing again in seven days and we had to get rid of it quickly.

“We have had two and a half weeks to stew on this one. This one is hurting more and has had time to sink in more.

“We have addressed how it went wrong and why. The only part that remains is the motivation not to let it happen again, but we have learned our lessons and are only looking forward.”

This time around no one gives Queensland a hope, including the bookies.

“We have been written off before and this is another example of it. We’ve given everyone a chance to kick us because of the way we played,” Cherry-Evans said.

“The betting suggests we are no chance but we have done it to ourselves. We are the only ones that can get ourselves out of it and I am OK with that because I believe we will.”

The Maroons intend to give the Blues nothing and get in their face with more mongrel and fight in the middle of the park and more defensive clout. The selection of veterans Josh Papalii, Andrew McCullough and Ben Hunt has given Cherry-Evans the confidence that a different style of performance will follow.

“You can’t help but think with the experience we have picked that we are going to play a different style of footy, suited to the players we have,” he said.

“We didn’t do that in Game One. We got stuck in club land and didn’t adjust to the Origin environment but we are going to be ready for the battle on Sunday.”

Originally published as Wayne Bennett’s shock gesture inspiring Queensland for Origin II