I just didn’t ‘get’ Origin at first. This was the year everything changed

May 21, 2026 — 5:00am

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Thirty years ago, I learned what an Origin player is.

On Monday night at the Blues Ball, we celebrated the 1996 NSW side that claimed the shield with a 3-0 series victory, and made history by becoming the first group of 17 players to go through a campaign unchanged.

I had made my debut the year before in 1995. But frankly, I just didn’t get it. We had so many young players in our team (Queensland had even more given no Super League-aligned players were selected) and we were beaten 3-0 by Fatty Vautin’s Neville Nobody’s.

But in 1996, Laurie Daley, Glenn Lazarus, Andrew Ettingshausen, Brett Mullins, David Furner and Jason Croker came back in and Phil Gould worked his magic.

This was the year I properly understood what it meant to be part of the Blues brotherhood.

Gus made us tight as glue in that series. I learned so much from guys like Loz and ET about how to train, prepare and play properly, but I also learned about true passion for your state and who you’re representing. I learned what an Origin player is.

Every game that series was won by a small margin, and in every game there was a special effort to stop a try or snuff out a Maroons try-scoring chance.

Even in the last game at Suncorp Stadium, we had a 2-0 series lead and a 15-2 lead after Brad Fittler had kicked a long-range field goal. Queensland came storming home as usual with late tries and I remember just being peppered on our line the entire time. We managed to hang on for a 15-14 win when Mark Coyne had a try taken off him by referee David Manson.

When you think about how rarely a 3-0 whitewash has been achieved, all those desperate efforts defending our line and digging deep for each other is how we made it happen.

Thirty years on, that Blues brotherhood still bonds us all. There’s times when I’ll see those great players now, and you don’t even have to be talking about Origin, but we can just give a smile and a nod and we’re thinking the same thing.

You’re remembering how you represented your state, how much you love your blue jersey and the guys wearing it........

© Brisbane Times