THE AXE CHOPS DOWN ENEMY
Origin in 1995 was split, and all the experts were tipping a Maroon rout, but the pundits were left red-faced
WE should have been watching State of Origin this month.
This year marks 40 years of rugby league’s favourite series where it’s mate against mate and state against state.
It was back in 1980 that Artie Beetson, Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga and the boys took on the Blues for the first time in what was a landmark moment for the sport.
Celebrating this moment would have been the highlight of a year of sport.
But then COVID-19 went and ruined everything.
The three-game series will be played in November but it means July will go by without the glorious cold weather and State of Origin Game 3 that have gone hand-in-hand for four decades.
This year also marks 25 years since one of Origin’s greatest moments — the Maroons’ unthinkable whitewash in the 1995 series.
The Maroons had dominated much of the 1980s but by 1995 had won the shield once since 1989.
The National Rugby League competition of the mid-1990s was a very different creature from today, with teams split between the existing fixtures and the breakaway Super League organisation.
This split meant Origin selectors were limited to nonSuper League-aligned teams to source their players.
This was not a major issue for NSW but for Queensland, it meant most players from Queensland’s leading squad, the Brisbane Broncos, were unavailable, severely altering the series’ dynamic.
With those players out of contention, Broncos coach Wayne Bennett also pulled the pin on his Origin duties to stand with his men, leaving the gig to former Maroons lock Paul “Fatty” Vautin to take charge.
Captain of the reduced Maroons side was South Queensland Crushers secondrower and future Gold Coast Titans assistant coach Trevor Gillmeister, who was in the twilight of his long career.
With these dramas in play, nobody thought Queensland stood a chance going into the May 15, 1995, clash at Sydney Football Stadium.
However, “Gilly’s” men had something else planned and left audiences and NSW stunned.
In 2015. Gillmeister reminisced about the series on its 20th anniversary.
“We were given no chance of winning (in 1995) and even we did not think we could even get close yet we ended up getting there 3-0 (overall in the series),” he said.
“Every Origin series is tough whether you win or lose and that year was particularly notable given we had something like nine players on debut.
“You do not get to captain your state often, especially in Origin, so I was confident we would win it.”
The Maroons came away 2-0 winners of the first game, which was the first try-less Origin match in the series’ history.
The lone points came from the boot of Wayne Bartrim on debut, who was fresh from a stint with the Gold Coast Seagulls.
Queensland went into Game 2 at Melbourne’s MCG still feeling like the underdog after losing its most experienced player, Dale Shearer.
An all-in brawl resulted in a spiteful match which Queensland
won 20-12 win to clinch the series.
The commentators still favoured NSW going into Game 3 in which Gillmeister was brought down with a blood infection in his knee.
Despite advice from doctors, the man known as “The Axe” walked out of hospital and led his team out on to Queensland’s traditional Brisbane home ground, Lang Park.
It was a tough game but Queensland triumphed 24-16 in front of a 40,000-strong crowd.
Now, league tragics will be sweating on November when the best series of all is played again.