Flashback: How the Maroons won the 1998 State of Origin series in the final game against the Blues
THE MAROONS head in tonight’s State of Origin game hoping to turn the tide against the Blues after losing game one. But if there’s one match the Queensland side should take inspiration from, it’s this one.
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THIS weekend’s State of Origin game is the moment of truth — will NSW wrap up the series for just their second win since flip-phones were popular or can the Maroons snare a victory and level the series.
The game, to be played in Sydney tomorrow night is the first not to be played on a Wednesday night in two decades, with the NRL trying out new fixtures for the first time.
After NSW convincingly won the first game 22-12, the Maroons have a lot to prove and are coming well-armed, with the return of fullback Billy Slater.
This epic showdown comes 20 years after the Maroons scored an emphatic win in the third game of the 1998 series.
That year’s Origin series was the first after the end of the Super League war, with the code’s top division reunited in the newly formed NRL.
That year saw Queensland win the first game 24-23 with a miraculous after-the-siren conversion by Darren Lockyer on debut on the back of a Tonie Carroll try.
The Blues hit back in Game 2 with a 26-10 drubbing at Brisbane’s Lang Park.
It all came down to the Friday night thriller at Sydney Football Stadium on June 19.
Going in, Queensland’s battle-scarred team adopted a ‘last man standing’ mentality, believing the game would prove to be one of the series’ most decisive.
But bad news hit the NSW team in the days before the match, with six players forced to pull out because of illness or injury.
On game day Geoff Toovey succumbed to the flu and was replaced by Matthew Johns.
Almost than 39,000 people watched the game, where NSW appeared to be barely recognisable as the team which had played so well during the first two games of that year’s series.
The Maroons were never behind, getting in front early and then playing top rugby league for the rest of the game.
Former Gold Coast Seagulls player Ben Ikin, and then-Gold Coast Chargers player Jamie Goddard led the charge with other standout performers including the raging bull himself, Gorden Tallis, Shane Webcke and Wendell Sailor.
In winning the game, Queensland bounced to the lead for series victories, having held aloft the trophy on nine occasions compared to NSW’s eight.
The result was a fitting bonus for long-serving player Kevin Walters who was given his first series win.
Though Queensland led 12-4 at halftime, there was a period in the eight minutes before the break where fatigue appeared to set in and NSW began to run the ball.
But the Blues soon stopped running and failed to keep the pressure on the Maroons for the rest of the game.
Despite Queensland’s dominant performance, three players were hurt in the first five minutes, with Ikin receiving a gaping eyebrow laceration, Robbie O’Davis going down with a leg injury and Lockyer with a thigh knock.
Despite this, Queensland continued to play hard and won the game 19-4.
The win brought to an end two years of losses for the Maroons, who had until that point only enjoyed two series victories in the 1990s.
The Maroons and Blues went on to draw in 1999 before NSW won in a whitewash in 2000.
The Maroons struck back in 2001 with a famous win before the last series to be drawn in 2002.
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