State of Origin 2016: Laurie Daley and Kevin Walters still mates, but their rivalry is real

TENSIONS between Kevin Walters and Laurie Daley, the State of Origin coaches, began about three weeks ago, writes PAUL KENT.

TENSIONS between Kevin Walters and Laurie Daley, the Origin coaches, began about three weeks ago.

You would need a magnifying glass and a pith helmet to find it, but it was there.

They walked in to the green room at Fox Sports like they always do, in Origin polo shirts and a smile, and fell into easy conversation.

Kevin Walters and Laurie Daley will square of as rival State of Origin coaches. Picture: Craig Greenhill

Most weeks, by the time they arrive, Ben Ikin has printed the topic rundown which both usually give no more than a passing glance, maybe long enough to shape a few jokes around, but it’s there.

Most often they spend their time chatting and telling war stories. For the first eight weeks of competition they spoke openly about Origin.

The gags continued.

Every time Daley would mention a player was “in the mix” on NRL 360 Walters would reach for a pen and fill in the player’s name on an ­imaginary teamsheet, keen to get a start on what the Blues line-up might look like.

Three weeks ago, though, Ikin asked Walters to talk about which NSW halves pairing he’d least like to see run out for the Blues.

“I’m not talking about that,” he said.

It was sharp and final.

The games had begun.

Daley wound down Origin talk. The jokes continued off-set but Origin was no longer spoken about.

Laurie Daley runs his eye over the Blues’ final training run, at ANZ Stadium. Picture: Gregg Porteous

There is a suspicion this year’s Origin build-up has leaned towards the quiet side because the two are former teammates with no genuine animosity and no genuine ­desire to peel skin off the other.

That would underestimate what drives both men.

When Daley first got the job many went back to his playing days and a night when Mal Meninga, who by then would be his rival Origin coach, was playing his last ­Origin game in a career that begins with magnificent and goes upwards from there.

Meninga made a break down the right-hand touchline and was doing what he always does. Running over them and then swatting them away as they chased him down.

Daley went after him, though, and Meninga, seeing Daley come at him, did something we hadn’t seen before.

He slowed down and looked to pass.

And he did, in a way.

Kevin Walters and Laurie Daley will square off in State of Origin again.

He passed the torch. Daley has always been a winner and in that moment Meninga recognised as much and went looking for another option.

The hope for NSW fans was the handover would be repeated now they were both coaching Origin but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Still, that hidden steel inside Daley is never far away.

It is less obvious with ­Walters. For most of his playing career he ran as sidekick to Allan Langer. At Broncos training sessions they would always run together, always laughing, nearly always at the back of whatever group was running and at whatever distance. Langer was never regarded an enthusiastic trainer.

The moment Langer retired something changed in Walters.

He won everything. Pre-­season runs, mid-season sprints. The lot. Gorden Tallis describes him as the mentally toughest player he played with. Walters, never blessed as a thoroughbred, could have done it no other way.

He won six premierships as a player, the most in the salary cap era. Daley won three.

Walters has waited a long time for tonight’s game.

It really began to become real three weeks ago.

For both men.