State of Origin 2022: Daly Cherry-Evans reveals deepest Origin scar and promises payback
Daly Cherry-Evans captained Queensland through an Origin massacre last year, ahead of Wednesday’s big game his message is clear — it’s payback time.
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Daly Cherry-Evans has opened up about the torment of last season’s Maroons horror show, vowing to deliver a captain’s knock to shock the Blues and bring the Origin shield back to Queensland.
As he prepares to lead Queensland into battle on Wednesday night, Cherry-Evans declared the 12 survivors of the Maroons massacre are hellbent on healing deep wounds — starting in Origin I at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
After the euphoria of skippering the Maroons to their 2020 miracle under Wayne Bennett, Cherry-Evans came crashing back to earth last season, left to digest the pain of 50-6 and 26-0 hammerings in the opening two games of the 2021 series.
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While the Maroons saved face with a 20-18 victory in the dead rubber, Cherry-Evans will always carry the scars of a tumultuous series that ultimately led to the exit of debutant Queensland coach Paul Green.
Now ‘DCE’ is back for his fourth consecutive series as Maroons captain. He has a simple message for Queensland fans … it’s payback time.
“There are things that happened in that series that I never want to see happen again,” he told The Sunday Mail ahead of the 2022 series opener.
“It’s a moment in time I will struggle to forget for all the wrong reasons; just the disappointment I felt as captain.
“Everyone works so hard in this team and for the whole series to capitulate the way it did was really disappointing.
“The toughest thing was knowing our commitment to the jersey was questioned. That was hard for me to digest, but that last win in Game Three showed we cared about the Queensland jumper and the Queensland fans.
“Anyone who got an opportunity to play last year and is here again this year, we’re making sure we learn from those lessons.
“I do believe I am the right man for the job as Queensland halfback.
“As captain, it’s on me to play a part in getting this Shield back and I know I have the form and the hunger to do it.
“It’s hard not to feel as though you want to right the wrongs of last year and as captain, I want to give the Queensland people something to be proud of.”
The 2021 series was a debacle on a number of fronts.
Green took risks with his Game I selections that backfired, lost fullback Reece Walsh to a hamstring injury on the eve of Origin II and then winger Ronaldo Mulitalo on game day following an eligibility scandal.
The dead-rubber was marred by Jai Arrow’s Covid breach, but the Maroons were able to avoid a clean-sweep defeat.
Green’s successor, new Queensland coach Billy Slater, has vowed to bring cohesion to the Maroons team.
There were suggestions the Maroons had morale issues last season, but Cherry-Evans said Queensland’s biggest problem last season was not mateship, but on-field strategic harmony.
“It’s so hard to pinpoint one thing but if I had to identify something, I would say our connection in games was a bit off,” he said.
“That showed in the way we played. We didn’t score a heap of points and our defensive connection wasn’t where it needed to be.
“By Game Three, we showed we had figured out how we needed to play and what sort of mentality we needed to have to beat NSW. We can’t leave it that late in this series.
“We’re not short of ability in this team, but it’s important we come together as a side, make sure we are clear on how we want to play and then execute accordingly.”
Maroons centre Dane Gagai will make his 20th Origin appearance on Wednesday night and hasn’t missed a game since debuting in 2015.
Gagai has experienced the highs of Origin success and the crushing lows of last year’s series, and said the Maroons will head to Sydney with a ‘no excuses’ mindset.
“It wasn’t one of our better series,” Gagai said of 2021.
“Sometimes things happen and at the end of the day, it’s out of our control. We still need to go out and perform on the field.
“That is something Billy is driving with us now. We have the ‘whatever it takes’ mentality.
“We need to be grateful about this moment too. I debuted in 2015 and have been fortunate enough to play all the games since.
“It’s always an honour and privilege to put this jersey on.”
Hooker Ben Hunt was 18th man for Game One last year then earned a recall for the next two matches, playing so well he received Queensland’s Ron McAuliffe Medal as player of the series for the second time.
After the success of 2020, Hunt said the Maroons let last year’s series slip and they were determined not to do that again.
“I missed the first game so I don’t really know what went wrong in that camp and game,” he said.
“In Game Two it didn’t go right for us. We got a lot of things wrong and it let it slip.
“In Game Three we finally got the win and fought pretty hard for it.
“It was a series that we really let slip.”
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