State of Origin: It’s now or never for James Maloney

James Maloney admits it is now or never. Make or break. Not just for the NSW team, but also for his State of Origin career.

James Maloney knows his State of Origin career is on the line tonight

James Maloney says it is now or never. Make or break. Not just for the NSW team, but also for his State of Origin career.

Maloney has played nine times for his state and is yet to savour a series win. He may never get a better opportunity, given the high-profile absences from the Queensland side.

“When you look at it, there is no better time to try to attack Queensland than now,” Maloney said. “You look at the guys they are missing. There is no doubt the guys they bring in are high-quality players and they’re going to be tough.

“If you think you are going to walk all over them, you are dreaming. There is no doubt about that. But there is no way the guys that they are missing doesn’t help us in some way.

“I have had a few cracks at it and been very close. They have ­almost been deadset two points in every series.

“There is a whisker in it. You would hopefully think without (Cameron) Smith, (Johnathan) Thurston and (Cooper) Cronk — guys like that — you would find those extra two points.”

Last year’s loss cut more deeply than ever. A series the Blues should have won was thrown away by their own profligacy.

Maloney carried that loss around for weeks, snapping out of his funk only when confronted by his wife, Jess.

“Last year took a massive toll on me,” Maloney said. “I remember my wife said ­afterwards, ‘I know you are hurting but you can’t take it out on us’. I probably didn’t even realise, but I was just mentally rattled after last year.

“It is hard to realise yourself but it wasn’t until she said something. The way last year went was hard to take. It was there on a platter for us and we stuffed it up.

“We didn’t get out-played. It was our doing that caused it. I was probably just a bit more short-tempered and everything was aggravating me a bit more. It takes time to get over. You don’t walk away and say that is done and forget about it.

“It takes time.”

Maloney’s irreverence sometimes gives the misleading impression that he is flippant about his rugby league. But as he says, you don’t achieve what he has achieved without having a deep commitment to your job.

“I have a good time doing what I do and I love enjoying what I do,’’ he said.

“But I don’t think you get to where I have if you don’t care about it. That doesn’t happen by accident.”

It helps explain why this series is so important to Maloney. He ­realises chances are running out. If the Blues lose tonight at the MCG, there is every chance Maloney will be on the chopping block, given coach Brad Fittler’s pre-match revelations that Luke Keary was close to selection.

Maloney has won premierships and represented his country. In tandem with his NSW halves partner Nathan Cleary, he has led Penrith to the top of the ladder midway through this season.

He is a serial winner everywhere but where many would suggest it matters most. Origin is the ultimate test for the game’s elite. Maloney is yet to prove himself on the biggest stage in the sport, ­although in his defence few in a NSW jersey have over the past decade, when Queensland have reigned supreme.

It remains the one outstanding item on his rugby league bucket list.

“It is one thing that still drives you for sure,” he said. “It is nice to be able to say you played Origin footy but at the end of the day it is not about just playing it, you need to succeed at it.

“It would hurt, 100 per cent (not to win a series). I would be disappointed. You would still look back (at the end of your career) and go ‘You had your chance and didn’t do it’.

“It is definitely something you would like to say you were part of, winning an Origin series.

“It would forever be there. (But not winning), you would probably say ‘I did a lot, I had a good career’, but there would be something else.

“It is not going to affect the rest of my life but it is probably something that will be there.

“Down the track if you see people doing it, you would go ‘It would be cool to do that’.”

Now or never.