After Paul Vautin’s ragtag bunch of journeymen and rookies pulled off a 3-0 fairytale in the Super League war-ravaged 1995 series, the availability of the ‘rebel’ players dominated the discourse leading into the 1996 State of Origin rubber.
Trevor Gillmeister was retained as Queensland captain ahead of returning linchpin Allan Langer, while selectors stayed loyal to 10 of their 1995 heroes.
Nine players from the previous year’s jarring defeat were selected for Phil Gould’s Blues, along with two ARL-loyal newcomers and six Super League players. Australia’s triumphant World Cup skipper Brad Fittler held onto the captaincy and the No.6 jersey, with NSW’s 1992-94 series-winning leader Laurie Daley pushed to centre.
Queensland made just one personnel change during the 1995 series – partially out of necessity, drawing from a shallow reservoir of talent – but would use 25 players in 1996. Ultimately, NSW’s renaissance was accompanied by the unprecedented feat of using the same 17 players for all three matches.
The Maroons twice swung the axe after being comprehensively outplayed 14-6 in a dour Suncorp Stadium opener and in an 18-6 series-sealing result at the Sydney Football Stadium. Halfback-hooker double act Geoff Toovey and Andrew Johns were the respective man of the match award recipients.
“The key is getting as hungry to win 3-0 as Queensland are to prevent it,” Daley said as NSW prepared to emulate the 1986 team, the only Blues side to carve out a cleansweep.
“State of Origin is so tight that it could be the only chance we ever get.”
As is so often the case when Origin’s competitiveness is called into question, the adversaries delivered a dead-rubber classic in Brisbane.
Johns stepped, swerved and fended to beat five defenders on a 50-metre charge, before flicking a one-handed offload for Andrew Ettingshausen to score one of the great Origin tries – and the only four-pointer of the first half
The Blues surged to a 10-point advantage just after halftime when Brett Mullins soared above the pack in the Maroons’ in-goal to grab a Fittler bomb.
Fittler’s 33-metre field goal seemingly clinched the result at 15-2, but Queensland launched a blistering comeback in the last 10 minutes. Mark Coyne provided hope with a bizarre and fortuitous try, apparently accidentally playing the ball forward – allowed under the rules of the day – near the NSW and diving on it.
Matt Sing made a break on halfway three minutes later to set up a scorching Brett Dallas try and cut the deficit to one point.
With 30 seconds left, Langer got away a desperate last-tackle grubber and Coyne – the tryscoring hero of Queensland’s miracle comeback victory in the 1994 series opener – beat Fittler to the ball under the NSW crossbar. But the celebrations were cut short when Coyne was correctly ruled offside, confirming the Blues’ 3-0 redemption.
“It wasn’t a good game for the coaches to watch, but I’ve come to expect that sort of fightback from Queensland and I’m sure they’ve come to expect that defence from NSW,” a relieved Gould said post-match.
“If you don’t like State of Origin after tonight then you’re very hard to please.”
Game-breaking workhorse Steve Menzies earned a niche in the record books as the first player to collect an Origin man of the match award after starting on the bench, while lionhearted Manly teammate Toovey was named player of the series.
“Missing last year’s series was a bitter pill to swallow – it’s history in the making and I’m proud to be part of it,” Blues prop Glenn Lazarus beamed. But the Super League schism would dilute the Origin talent pool again in 1997 while the breakaway organisation ran its own Tri-Series competition.
