State of Origin's best ever players: Who is the best Gold Coast talent to play?
From Wally Lewis to Dale Shearer to Jai Arrow, Gold Coast has laid claim to plenty of State of Origin stars over the years. But who is the best? FULL TOP 10 RANKINGS >>>
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FROM Wally Lewis to Dale Shearer to Jai Arrow, Gold Coast has laid claim to plenty of State of Origin stars over the years. But who is the best?
Only the player’s time toiling in the national competition on the Gold Coast - or their Gold Coast upbringing - has been used to determine their Origin ranking in what is likely to be a controversial list.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
No. 10 Ben Ikin
IKIN beat out a host of representative players for the final spot, including Jai Arrow and David Fifita.
Ikin played only one series during his time on the Coast — but he was one of the most notable players in arguably the most famous Origin series of all.
In 1995, with Queensland’s Super League recruits banned from representing the state, Ikin was plucked from the Gold Coast Seagulls to play off the bench for Queensland.
At 18 years and 83 days when he debuted in Game One, Ikin became the youngest Origin player in history.
Coach Paul Vautin famously questioned who Ikin was when the baseball cap-wearing teen showed up to the team hotel after the Maroons squad was announced.
But after Queensland’s famous 3-0 series win — including a late try to the youngster to seals the Maroons’ whitewash — Ikin’s representative future was sealed.
Injury meant Ikin played just eight games for the Seagulls in his career and he moved to North Sydney, and then Brisbane where he became a representative mainstay for Queensland and Australia.
No. 9 Scott Prince
PLAYING in an era of great halves made it difficult for Scott Prince to receive many chances to wear the Maroons jersey with the likes of Darren Lockyer and Johnathan Thurston occupying the halfback and five-eighth roles during his career.
But Prince made the most of those opportunities he was afforded and they came during his tenure on the Gold Coast.
While his was mainly a fill-in role, his time in Maroon makes him the Bulletin’s No. 9 in the list of greatest Gold Coast Origin players.
Prince played his first Origin series in 2004 while at the Wests Tigers and did not make the Queensland team again until 2008 when he played two games for the injured Darren Lockyer.
Despite concerns he and Johnathan Thurston played too similar a style, the pair combined well and led Queensland to a 30-0 win to level the series.
Prince’s time for Queensland ended on a sour note when he broke his arm early in Game Three of the 2008 series, although the Maroons hung on for the series win, the first the Titans captain had been involved in.
No. 8 Dale Shearer
THE mercurial Shearer is one of the great Maroons, writing himself into Queensland folklore in 26 games between 1984 and 1996.
With 12 Origin tries, he stands as one of Queensland’s most prolific scorers, only overtaken in the recent years by Billy Slater, Darius Boyd and Greg Inglis.
Shearer, a member of the indigenous team of the century, only played three years of his 15-season career on the Gold Coast though, notching 33 games for the Seagulls between 1992-94.
It coincided with the later stages of his career with the Maroons and it is for this reason he sits at No. 8 on the Bulletin’s list.
Shearer may have been past his absolute peak during his time on the Coast but he still managed to play for Australia until 1993 as the Kangaroos’ fullback and goal-kicker for all three games of the trans-Tasman series.
No. 7 Anthony Laffranchi
HIS Origin stint was short and sweet but during his four-game reign, Anthony Laffranchi was one of the form forwards in Australia.
A NSW Country player from 2006, Laffranchi had long been on the cusp of a Blues call-up.
He finally got his chance in 2008 on the back of outstanding form for the Titans, who he had joined from the Wests Tigers for their inaugural campaign the previous season.
After being named man of the match in the City-Country clash, Laffranchi was named to make his Origin debut and came off the bench to make a team-high 40 tackles and score the winning try for the Blues.
His efforts see him the first NSW player named in the Bulletin’s countdown of top Gold Coast Origin players.
While he was retrained for the remainder of the 2008 series, Laffranchi could not help the Blues to a series win, with Queensland bouncing back to win 2-1.
His stellar form was rewarded with an Australian jersey, with the now Titans football manager winning selection for the World Cup.
Laffranchi played his final game for the Blues in Origin I, 2009, gaining a late call-up to replace the injured Paul Gallen.
No. 6 Luke Bailey
LUKE Bailey was known as “Bull” a nickname befitting the tough as teak front-rower who was an Origin mainstay for NSW during one of the most successful periods in their history.
An uncompromising, hardworking player, Bailey’s style fitted perfectly in the sport’s toughest arena.
Bailey made his debut for the Blues in 2002, picked from St George Illawarra where he formed a formidable representative combination with fellow Dragon Jason Ryles.
Of his 15 appearances for NSW though, only four came during Bailey’s time on the Gold Coast, where he was a foundation player with the Titans.
And he played just one game in 2009 before his Origin run came to an end.
While he rates as one of the Blues greats, his contribution during his time with the Titans leaves him at No. 6 on the Bulletin’s list of greatest Gold Coast Origin players.
After playing all three games in the 2007 series, Bailey was dropped in 2008 as Craig Bellamy opted for bigger front-rowers.
No. 5 Ashley Harrison
WHILE he made his Origin debut in 2005 from South Sydney, Ashley Harrison became a Maroons stalwart during his time on the Gold Coast.
After winning a recall in 2008, Harrison played 14 more games in for Queensland until his representative axing in 2013, his purple patch coming almost entirely during his time at the Titans.
Winning his recall in 2008, Harrison played alongside Scott Prince and against Anthony Laffranchi as the Titans contributed three players to the series in a sign the young club had some of the best players in the competition.
Playing at lock and in the backrow, Harrison was part of a Maroons squad that dominated Origin and apart from his sole game in 2005 in a losing series, he only experienced success in the sport’s toughest arena.
A workaholic backrower in the mould of former Queensland greats Gary Larsen and Dallas Johnson, Harrison’s commitment and work ethic have him rated at No. 5 on the Bulletin’s list of greatest Gold Coast Origin players.
No. 4 Bob Lindner
LINDNER’S selection at No. 4 on the Bulletin’s list of Gold Coast’s best Origin players is bound to be controversial given he played just one season on the Gold Coast.
The tough backrower played just 10 games for the Seagulls in his sole season on the Coast, before moving on to Western Suburbs the following season.
While he played 25 games for Queensland and was player of the Kangaroos tour in 1990, Lindner played only two game of the 1989 Origin series — the period during which he was based on the Gold Coast.
But the Queensland and Australian mainstay during the mid-80s and early 90s, was at the peak of his powers during his time on the Coast and played a pivotal, and courageous, role in arguably Queensland’s greatest ever Origin win.
Lindner was an automatic selection for the 1989 series and his try in the series opener at Lang Park helped the Maroons to a 36-6 win against NSW and early series lead.
It was the second game of the series, at the Sydney Football Stadium that will go down in history and one Lindner rated as the toughest match of his career.
The Maroons lost Allan Langer to a broken leg, Mal Meninga with a fractured eye socket and Paul Vautin with an elbow injury all by halftime.
Michael Hancock came off with a bruised shoulder in the second half, leaving Queensland with no reserves and Lindner to toil on while injured.
Amazingly, he played until five minutes from fulltime with a fractured ankle, leaving only when the Maroons’ unlikely victory was sealed.
No. 3 Greg Bird
GREG Bird may have made his Blues debut in 2007 while playing for Cronulla, but it was while at the Titans that he made his Origin mark.
After a Super League stint with Catalans, Bird returned to the NRL in 2010, linking with the Gold Coast and winning an NRL recall for Game Three that year.
A fixture in Blues sides, Bird was as uncompromising as they come and a man Maroons fans loved to hate.
One of the toughest forwards of his era, Bird was outstanding in the Origin arena, with his unrelenting style pushing him to No. 3 on the Bulletin’s list of greatest Gold Coast Origin players.
In an era of Maroon dominance, Bird finally tasted series success in 2014 when the Blues broke Queensland’s nine-year winning run.
Like his NRL career though, Bird’s Origin stint was often controversial.
He was rubbed out of the entire 2015 series after being suspended for six weeks for a dangerous throw in club football, and after being recalled for the opening game of the 2016 series, was dropped from Laurie Daley’s team.
No. 2 Nate Myles
NATE Myles started his Origin career in 2006, one of the many young players Mal Meninga called into the Queensland side in a bid to turn the tide after three consecutive losing series.
From that point, Myles was an integral part of Queensland’s decade of dominance, playing 32 games for his state until his axing in 2017.
Most of them came during the rugged forward’s time at the Titans, his record while on the Coast pushing him to No. 2 on the Bulletin’s list of the Gold Coast’s best Origin players.
Myles arrived at the Titans in 2012, the same year he won the Wally Lewis Medal as the player of the Origin series.
Myles was also involved in one of the most infamous Origin fights, taking a flurry of punches from Blues captain Paul Gallen — a man who has had several professional fights — in an incident that eventually led to punching being almost entirely eradicated from the game.
In the most dominant year of his career, Myles was also named the Dally M second-rower of the year and won Paul Broughton Medal as the Titans’ best and fairest player.
A man Blues fans loved to hate, Myles’ selection at No. 2 is sure to be controversial.
But he played the best football of his Origin career on the Coast, leaving him close to the top of the tree.
No.1 Wally Lewis
THE player known as “The King” is the undisputed leader in the history of Origin football. And while Lewis played just one season on the Gold Coast during his Maroons career, he still lands at No.1 on the Bulletin’s list of Origin greats.
While he retired after the 1991 series, while playing club football for the Gold Coast Seagulls, Lewis was close to the peak of his powers and had a major influence on the series.
Lewis learnt on the day of the final game of the series that his daughter Jamie-Lee had been born profoundly deaf and made the decision to retire from Origin football to spend more time with his family.
The decision was announced to a crowd of more than 33,000 at Lang Park just 10 minutes before the end of the match, their reaction reportedly helping the Maroons hang on for a series-sealing win against the Blues.
As well as captaining Queensland to a win in his final match at Lang Park, his stoush with Mark Geyer in Game Two of the series is one of the great Origin moments.
Firebrand forward Geyer chopped down on Steve Walters shortly before halftime sparking a brawl. Geyer’s actions attracted a caution from referee David Manson but Lewis continued to goad him as he walked off the field, creating one of the most famous images in Origin history as he got up in the backrowers face.
Titans lock down greatest modern day schoolboy grand final winner
He’s the hard as nails Palm Beach Currumbin forward who can’t stop winning when it counts, and now he is NRL bound. Find out more ahead of the NRL Schoolboys Cup national final.
Struddys Cup grand final glory reports: Players of the Day includes terrorising twin pairing
Struddys Cup schoolboy grand finals: Read the reports and see who the Players of the Day were after three stunning league deciders between Redcliffe SHS, Mountain Creek SHS, Caloundra SHS, King’s College and Forest Lake SHS. The list includes an exciting twin pairing from King’s College that set Langlands Park alight on Tuesday.