It's time to make some memories

DAD used to tell me stories about Origin when I was a kid. He loved his footy, the old man. Still does.

DAD used to tell me stories about Origin when I was a kid. He loved his footy, the old man. Still does.

He would travel from Sydney to Lang Park just to watch Queensland play NSW. And I remember, he'd come back and tell me all sorts of stories about the game. The build-up, the players, the atmosphere.

I would sit there all wide-eyed as he told me stories like how Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium) was once a graveyard and that the grandstands there would shake, like the ground was possessed, or something.

Then there were those days as a junior at Wentworthville, when Wednesday night - Origin night - made footy training almost a waste of time.

All the boys wanted to get home in time for kick-off and to play knee-footy in the loungeroom.

I remember being 17 years old and sitting at the Sydney Football Stadium shattered as Tonie Carroll scored a try for Queensland to win a game in 1998. Then I remember cheering hard in the stands of Homebush when Joey carved them up in 2005.

I look back at those days, my career, and think how I've actually been waiting for this game on Wednesday night for my entire life.

And how maybe it's about time that I made some new memories.

Not just for me, but my family and, as a father, for my boy, Kody.

While he's only young, having just turned one, I often think about him watching old tapes of my Origin games when he's older and how proud I would be if he could one day say his dad was the captain of a series winning NSW team.

I would probably tell him stories, too, just like my old man. I'd tell him some things that might surprise him - and maybe even a few people today.

Like, how I've never felt I belonged at this level until this year. Only now, as captain, do I feel comfortable in this environment.

I suppose it comes from my up-bringing, of never taking too much for granted.

I made my Origin debut in 2006, six years after making my NRL debut. It was for a game-three decider.

But then I was gone, just as quickly as I was there.

Then in 2007, with the series over, there was a chance at redemption when I was called up for the final Origin.

It was a tough initiation.

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In 2008, I was lucky enough to be chosen for all three games. But the next year, 2009, I only played in game two. And so it went on.

In 2010, two games ... 2011 all three as captain.

And so maybe, after telling this story to my boy, he'll understand why the captaincy means so much to me.

It hasn't come overnight.

I was at a function recently when some footage of me running out at ANZ Stadium came on one of the televisions. I still find it weird to see myself running out first for my state.

Two years ago, I couldn't get a jersey.

It has taken a lot of hard work, effort and pain. And that's OK, too, because that's what it will take for us to beat Queensland. This NSW team excites me. It's the best team I've been associated with.

Why? Because every player is a specialist in their position.

It's the first time in a long time I can say that.

As a playing group, it feels like we have really turned the corner. Finally we have cultivated talent in every position, including front row, which suits me just fine as I move back to lock.

Even though I'll shift back, my game won't change too much. But the fact we have two big boppers, in Tim Grant and James Tamou, to lay the platform up front - it's a rare thing for a NSW side to have two guys so young, who you know we could see leading NSW for the next five series.

Big Jimmy Tamou has impressed me all along.

Timmy, for a debutant, has slotted into camp perfectly.

I love blokes prepared to work hard, do the extras.

So to see Tim in the gym doing an optional weights session, I like that. It shows that he's got the right work ethic to make it.

I had no idea he was allergic to grass as a kid.

Hopefully the Maroons are allergic to him on Wednesday night.

Tomorrow night, Ricky has organised the 1985 NSW team to present us with our jerseys for this game.

Steve Mortimer's side were the first NSW side to win an Origin series.

I watched a replay of that old game the other day. I reckon Steve would still be telling stories about the moment he captained the Blues to victory. It got me thinking, that's something I could also get used to.

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