State of Origin 2020: Paul Gallen fires up Maroons with ‘worst ever’ sledge
Paul Gallen is NSW’s biggest loser in State of Origin history and the former Blues captain has fired up Queensland.
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The biggest loser in NSW’s State of Origin history has fired up the Maroons, with Queensland to take inspiration from former Blues skipper Paul Gallen into Wednesday’s series decider.
Gallen has unwittingly given the Maroons extra motivation after agreeing that Queensland’s class of 2020 is the worst team in Origin’s 40-year history.
Gallen, who lost a Blues record 15 of 24 Origin games, said the current Maroons paled in comparison to the state’s golden era from 2006-15, when Queensland won nine of 10 series with Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer and Billy Slater leading the way.
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“I look at the period I came through against Queensland, it was a great side full of future Immortals,” Gallen told Channel 9.
“I look at the current side and they’ve got some great players, but I think as a team, when it comes down to ability, I don’t think they’ve got anywhere near the ability of the Blues, so I think it’s fair (to say they’re the worst ever).”
Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans said he took Gallen’s sledge personally and the Maroons were ready to prove their critics wrong in front of 50,000 rabid fans at Suncorp Stadium.
“A little bit, yeah of course,” he said when asked if Gallen’s sledge struck a chord.
“I played a bit of footy with Gal, he is a tough opponent. Gal is a really good player and I enjoyed playing alongside Gal and watching him play.
“But he works in the media now and his job is to heighten and hype. He doesn’t have to do footy anymore. He has to sell the product and he is doing a good job of selling the product.
“We’d love to have the last laugh.”
The Maroons were written off in the lead-up to this series on the back of injuries, retirements, suspensions and departure of coach Kevin Walters to the Broncos.
They defied the odds to produce a comeback win in the series-opener in Adelaide, but were soundly beaten by the Blues at ANZ Stadium last Wednesday.
Cherry-Evans said the young Maroons had learned from their Sydney failures and were ready to produce a better performance on home turf as they look to clinch a first series win since 2017.
“We were a bit off last week,” he said.
“That’s not to take anything away from NSW, they played really good footy and put us into corners and took away our expansive footy.
“We need to be better and smarter. We can all admit we were probably 10 per cent off last week. We don’t have any excuses to be off this week.
“We’re playing in a decider at Suncorp. We’re looking to turn the tables.
“I feel like tactically there’s definitely got to be some changes, but between the ears we need to be better. We need to bring our best footy.”
The Queensland Government will lift COVID crowd restrictions in time for the decider, with a previously capped crowd of 39,000 to now exceed 50,000.
With Sydneysiders still locked out of Queensland, Cherry-Evans said the Maroon-washed crowd at The Cauldron would give his team extra motivation.
“We’re super happy there’s going to be so many people in Suncorp, it’s a special place to play footy,” he said.
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“You just know those extra couple of thousand people are going to make a massive difference. That place roars at full capacity.
“As a Queensland player it’s a proud moment running out. I’ve got no doubt they’re going to get behind us.
“We need to give them something to cheer for and I know we can do it. It’d be a really special moment for all of us.”
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