State of Origin 2018: After reclaiming Origin shield, NSW are now champions in all areas of interstate rugby league
MEN’S Origin, Women’s Origin, Under 20s, Under 18s, Under 16s, National Under 18s, NSW wheelchair, NSW Residents and in the National Intrust Super premiership. NSW are now the dominant rugby league state in every area.
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“We just wanted NSW fans to fall back in love with rugby league.”
With those words Blues coach Brad Fittler spoke of the extraordinary pride of winning the State of Origin series to complete an incredible whitewash of Queensland at every level of representative football.
After 13 long and painful years, NSW has emerged as the dominant rugby league state in every area.
The Blues are now champions in Men’s Origin, Women’s Origin, Under 20s, Under 18s, Under 16s, National Under 18s, NSW wheelchair, NSW Residents and in the National Intrust Super premiership.
Never before have the Maroons felt this much pain. And aren’t we loving it!
“We’re the biggest state and this is our job,” Fittler said, “We need to lead the way.
“This all starts in junior competitions, gala days, the key has always been about kidding kids involved in footy. Getting people loving the game again in NSW.
“These results are a shining light on our game.”
Fittler also paid tribute to former Blues coach Laurie Daley for his role in the long-term planning.
And to Blues chief executive Dave Trodden, the man who almost walked away last year after another series loss to the Maroons.
“Troddo (Dave Trodden) has done a cracking job to set all this all up,” Fittler said, “I’ve been involved with Laurie Daley since 2013. He’s entitled to a lot of credit too.”
Fittler and former Blues skipper Danny Buderus have been involved in the NSW pathway systems for five years, slowly but surely identifying the right talent.
Trodden told The Daily Telegraph NSW had worked hard to lift the competitive standards of the competitions in all area of the games over the last four years.
“We’ve had the very best high performance tools and access to coaching from our State of Origin legends,” he said
“The result which Freddy achieved hasn’t just been a few weeks in the making.
“Freddy has spent four years looking after our pathways teams and also the City Origin team.
“Virtually all of the players who played [Wednesday] night have been identified by Freddy in one of more of those teams he has coached over the past four years.
“He’s been rewarded for many years of hard work. With our recent results, the whole of NSWRL is now seeing the fruits of much hard work by our Head of Football, BJ Mather, and his team.”
The stage is now set for NSW to dominant Queensland at Origin level long term.
The Maroons’ eight straight years of Origin victories will be hard to repeat but the Blues have never been in a healthier position.
It leaves Queensland searching for replacements for Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater from a nursery nowhere near as strong as the Baby Blues.
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