State of Origin: The Artie Beetson image inspiring a new generation of Maroons
Not a single current Maroons player was born when Arthur Beetson played in his one and only game for Queensland, but Wayne Bennett is determined for his legacy to endure.
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Wayne Bennett has revealed the dressing-room shrine to Arthur Beetson that is driving Queensland‘s quest to engineer one of Origin’s greatest boilovers in Wednesday night’s series decider at Suncorp Stadium.
News Corp has obtained the image of Beetson that has been used by Bennett to capture the spirit of Camp Maroon as Queensland prepare for Origin’s 40th anniversary celebrations in the Suncorp decider.
The night of Tuesday, July 8, 1980 is firmly etched in the mind of Bennett, who was a 30-year-old in the stands when Beetson famously led Queensland onto Lang Park for the birth of State of Origin four decades ago.
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Not a single current Maroons player was born when Beetson, at age 35, inspired a 20-10 upset in his one and only game for Queensland, but Bennett is determined for his legacy to endure.
The famous image of Beetson walking onto Lang Park for his Origin debut, white powder smeared across the front of his Maroon jumper, stares at Queensland’s players in the sheds just before they run out for battle with the Blues.
In this Origin decider, Big Artie will be there again as Queensland‘s 18th man.
“We have an Artie poster in our team room,” Bennett says.
“The players know what he meant to everybody and what he represents to our Queensland jumper.
“We have a photo of him in the team room and there is a quote from Dick ‘Tosser’ Turner (legendary Queensland team manager) saying we wouldn’t have Origin today if it wasn’t for Arthur Beetson.
“That‘s an inscription with the photo. It’s in our change room on match day as well.
“I believe Artie is the No.1 of all Origin players because if he didn’t do what he did that night, who knows where Origin would be now?”
Beetson stands as a poster boy for Queensland‘s underdog spirit because for more than a decade, the NRL Immortal was denied the chance to wear his beloved Maroon jumper.
Under eligibility rules in the pre-Origin era, Artie was forced to represent NSW because he was based in Sydney with Balmain and Eastern Suburbs.
From 1966-77, he represented the Blues 17 times - including a showdown with Queensland winger Bennett in NSW‘s 27-6 win in 1972 - but when Origin was born, Beetson’s legacy in Maroon was enshrined.
Australia‘s first indigenous captain, Beetson died on December 1, 2011 after suffering a heart attack while exercising on the Gold Coast, but almost nine years on, he is still the heartbeat of Camp Maroon.
Legendary Queensland centre Chris Close, who played alongside Beetson in the Maroons‘ historic Origin win, wishes Big Artie was still around to address Bennett’s squad for the decider.
“His message would have been very blunt,” Close said.
“He would say something like, ‘Get out and have a f***ing go and if you don’t want to, or can’t, then f*** off‘.
“That’s how his messages went and then he showed you how to do that.
“It was very important to him that young men were given the right message and had the right opportunity to exceed and excel in everything they did.
“Our mindset is that if you give everything you’ve got the possibility of winning increases dramatically. If you don’t win you can walk off with your head held high knowing you gave everything for your state.
“Arthur was a representative like that. Hopefully we‘ve all kept that flame alive for Queensland.”
Queensland prop Christian Welch was born 14 years after Beetson‘s Origin debut, but when Bennett address the team just moments before kick-off, the formidable flames of Artie walking onto the same Lang Park turf will still flicker.
“Whenever Wayne talks to us, we have that photo of Artie taking the field at Lang Park,” Welch said.
“We‘ve got this poster of Artie in our team rooms and our meetings.
“Wayne and Mal (Meninga, assistant coach) have spoken about him being the greatest Maroon to put on the jersey and it‘s hard to disagree.
“He went into that first Origin game with a dodgy knee but he saw the importance and value of representing Queensland.
“It‘s our way of respecting the players that have gone before us and Artie is not forgotten by this group of players.”
Bennett sees eerie parallels between Beetson‘s pioneers of 1980 and his motley-crew of maligned Maroons 40 years on.
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“I was at the game that night, I was a policeman coaching Brothers, and when Artie ran out, the crowd just roared as one,” he said.
“The way he ran out, his knees were giving him grief, he was playing on courage that night and that‘s what playing for Queensland is all about.
“If we got flogged that night, it would have been the end of Origin.
“I honestly believe it was Artie who gave the other younger Queensland guys the confidence to play the way they did.
“He was inspirational that night, because of his age and the pain he was in, he minimised the distance he had to travel. But when he carried the ball, he was like a colossus.
“There were a few confrontations in the game and some of those were against his best mate Mick Cronin, he held no fear, he held no punches back, he just stood up for his teammates.
“At full-time, I just remember feeling great pride to be a Queenslander.
“The Maroons were prepared to fight for each other and play for each other. They were a committed group of men who came together for the Queensland jumper ... and Arthur‘s presence was the catalyst for it all.”
Originally published as State of Origin: The Artie Beetson image inspiring a new generation of Maroons
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