State of Origin 2020: Kurt Capewell’s hometown renames itself ‘Kurtsville’

Darren Lockyer has the ‘Lockyer Highway’. But not even the legendary Queensland captain has a town named after him.

Darren Lockyer has the ‘Lockyer Highway’. But not even the legendary former Queensland captain has a town named after him.

But for Maroons rookie Kurt Capewell - who made his Origin debut in Adelaide - his hometown in southwest Queensland will transform from Charleville into ‘Kurtsville’.

Mayor Shaun ‘Zoro’ Radnedge revealed he floated the idea of honouring the hometown lad if Capewell played the full State of Origin series.

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Charleville has cheekily renamed itself Kurtsville in honour of their local State of Origin star Kurt Capewell. Picture: Facebook

“I floated it around as a joke so I had to make good,” Mayor Radnedge said, standing in front of temporary “Kurtsville”.

“I’ve spoken to Kurt though and he says he feels very privileged by what we’ve done, and he’s ready to rip in,” he said. “The players have been in a bubble for the last four or five weeks - I thought it would be a good way to let them know regional Queensland was right behind them.

“How good it is that we have a representative of a town of 3,300 that we can supply not only someone playing in the NRL … but to actually have one playing State of Origin and play three [games] and have a major part?”

Despite playing injured, Capewell had a debut to remember, setting up the try that sparked Queensland’s Adelaide miracle.

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Queensland coach Wayne Bennett later told Maroons insiders Capewell’s performance was possibly the finest Origin debut he had seen.

“I don’t know if it was the best game of my career, but it was definitely one of the biggest,” Capewell said after Game I.

“There were a couple of big moments in the game that I was happy with.

“I’ve played in the centres earlier in my career so I was actually looking forward to the challenge of getting out there.”

Originally published as State of Origin 2020: Kurt Capewell’s hometown renames itself ‘Kurtsville’