Dreams never end in Origin – and sometimes they do come true

It’s an old Queensland beauty – when you’re under the pump, you come up with a storyline.

A romantic footy tale, a source of inspiration to fit in with the perennial backs-to-the-wall mentality and produce a victory out of nowhere.

Think Alfie in 2001, the “worst team ever” in both 1995 and 2020, doing it for the injured and retiring Johnathan Thurston in 2017 after losing game one 26-4.

The list is almost endless.

So what has Billy Slater done for the decider in 2025? He’s become the Demtel Man, going for not one, but two, storylines.

He’s chosen a 27-year-old journeyman in the centres and a 33-year-old front-row legend who retired from representative football three years ago.

Gehamat Shibasaki only played three NRL matches between 2022 and 2024 in amongst a stint in Japanese rugby, but finds himself in the Origin arena after a late-blooming breakout year in which he has featured in 15 matches after starting on a train-and-trial contract for the Broncos.

Gehamat Shibasaki training with the Queensland team.Credit: Getty Images

The much-loved Josh Papali’i played 23 Origins for Queensland between 2013 and 2022.

He’s most likely in his last year in the NRL for his beloved Canberra Raiders who are sitting top of the table in a fairytale season.

There’s not one person in rugby league who doesn’t love Papali’i.

There are your feel-good storylines. The unlikely debutant and the returning hero. It is so Queensland, and it has worked so many times before. And it could be a Slater masterstroke.

Billy Slater fronts media with his Maroons players on Sunday to announce the death of Cam Munster’s father.Credit: Getty Images

In an extremely sad situation, the Maroons were given another source of inspiration with the passing of their skipper Cam Munster’s father over the weekend.

Slater broke the news on Sunday while his team showed a united front behind him. Munster left camp to be with family but will return ahead of Wednesday night.

It might seem heartless to suggest this while the news is so raw, but by game-time rest assured Munster’s teammates will do everything that’s humanly possible to honour their skipper and his father. It’s just how teams think.

Slater’s a winner. Always has been. He’s played like a winner, coached like a winner and, above all that, thinks like a winner.

His coaching rival Laurie Daley was a winner as a player, not so much as a coach. In Daley’s defence, for the five years he coached NSW from 2013 to 2017, Queensland was in the midst of the most dominant run in State of Origin history, winning 11 of 12 series from 2006 to 2017.

Daley did break that run with a lone series victory in 2014, and his sides were never beaten 3-0.

Slater’s Origin coaching career began with series wins in 2022 and 2023 after Queensland had lost three of the previous four series to Brad Fittler-coached Blues outfits.

He finished off Fittler’s Blues career with those victories and looked invincible at the helm of the Maroons.

Enter Michael Maguire who pulled a series win for NSW from the fire last year, a victory which re-ignited his NRL coaching career as he was head-hunted by the Broncos.

Slater, out of nowhere, no longer looked invincible.

The Blues had to go back to the drawing board, and NSWRL boss Dave Trodden convinced his board that his old mate Daley was ready for a second go.

So we now head to Accor Stadium on Wednesday night where both Daley and Slater have everything on the line.

The pressure is on NSW Blues coach Laurie Daley.Credit: Getty Images

A series loss for NSW would be devastating for Daley. He has no alternative but to win. In fact, a series loss after last year’s win and this year’s game one dominance at Suncorp would be beyond devastating.

Slater, too, has a lot on the line. He was stunned by last year’s loss, especially losing the decider at home.

His confidence would have been rocked further after game one this year when Queensland was completely outclassed.

Winning in Perth was huge for him, but to do it in a decider at Accor will take a much bigger, and better, performance.

On paper, his side is outgunned. NSW won three matches in a row going back to last year and were let down by a sloppy first-half effort in Perth. The 8-0 penalty count against them didn’t help.

It’s often argued NSW “don’t get Origin”. It’s rubbish. Of course they ‘get’ Origin. But, there is a huge difference in the attitude toward Origin by the two states.

As a born-and-bred Queenslander, the best way I can explain it is that Queenslanders believe people from Sydney think they’re better than them.

It’s like an inferiority complex, and they fuel themselves on beating NSW, sticking it to them.

The fans, officials and players feel the same way.

As part of the process, the Maroons like to find reasons to fuel the fire. Last match, they were filthy that Aaron Woods said Slater was a “grub” on radio.

Who cares that he said that? Well, the Queenslanders did because it was another example of someone from Sydney disrespecting them.

“See, they think they’re better than us.”

Cam Munster said as much after the match. Daley, too, said Woods did the Blues “no favours” with the comment.

This week, it will be the romance of the journeyman and the inspiration of the retired great, coming back for one last hurrah.

And it might just be enough.

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