Young Blues side aims to overcome generation of pain
MELBOURNE: They are the generation of New South Wales players with fewer mental scars yet every reason to have the State of Origin blues.
There are 16 of them who, if it was not for one Trent Hodkinson showandgo in 2014, would not have witnessed Origin success for the whole of their adult lives.
The topic has been the hardest to broach at Blues training this week. They are a team all about the future. The past does not rate a mention.
‘‘Our young guys don’t have those scars from years gone by,’’ Blues captain Boyd Cordner said.
‘‘There hasn’t really been talk of that at all. It’s all about our energy and everything has been put into this game and preparing them for what Origin has in store for them.
‘‘We aren’t looking back on the past. We can take some lessons from the past but we are more so looking forward.’’
But the reality is the Blues players have barely seen their side win.
Halfback Nathan Cleary was 8 and living in New Zealand when the Maroons’ run started in 2006. Latrell Mitchell was the same age while Tom Trbojevic, Josh AddoCarr and Angus Crichton were still primary schoolers.
But they are now part of a new era of young NSW players determined to make sure the next batch of young fans do not have to endure the same pain they did.
‘‘It was kind of hard watching NSW lose,’’ Cleary said.
‘‘But I grew up watching State of Origin in the glory days where there was Joey Johns running around and I idolised him.
‘‘It’s just the nature of NSW to stick by them through all this. I still love NSW and to be a fan, you know how much it means to be a fan out there.
‘‘So to kind of fill the void now, it’s a great honour.’’
James Maloney is the odd Blue out, the one player over the age of 18 when Darren Lockyer swooped on an errant Brett Hodgson ball out of dummyhalf and scored to claim the series decider for Queensland back in 2006.
But NSW players still insist they have positive memories of Origin.
‘‘I remember 2005 still. Johnsy’s [Andrew Johns’] return, that was great’’ Jake Trbojevic, who was then 12, said.
‘‘I’ve still got a lot of good Origin memories.’’ — AAP