Almighty win: Slater lauds Qld spirit in famous Origin triumph
Queenslanders endure drought. Cyclones. Floods. So being a man down and trailing bitter rivals NSW late in a State of Origin game? No worries.
āA trait of Queenslanders is never give up,ā coach Billy Slater said after the Maroonsā gripping 26-18 win in the Origin opener in Adelaide.
Slater conceded the task was tough, with his team two points down, a man in the sin bin, and only 10 minutes left.
But not too tough for a Queenslander.
āQueenslanders go through drought,ā Slater said.
āThey go through cyclones. They go through floods.Ā They go through a lot of adversity.
āAnd we try and represent our people in that way as well.
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āI think thatās what makes our people so proud of this footy team and that is why this footy team is such an inspiration for our people.
āThatās what we try and do: we try and replicate the traits that Queenslanders have.ā
From their precarious position, the Queenslanders rallied with two tries in a tick over two glorious minutes.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow flew over 50 metres for his second of the game; then Lindsay Collins flew over James Tedesco for the most unlikely catch, laying off to Cameron Munster for the sealer.
āI donāt like to focus on the scoreboard too much,ā Slater said.
āBut with 10 minutes left in the game, you probably need to a little bit.
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āWe went after the game. And some players made some big plays, but the whole team had to get into position.
āWe didnāt play overly smart at times ā¦ but I tell you what, there is a lot of guts and determination and courage in this footy team.
āThis is an almighty win.ā
And it leaves an almighty task for NSW and their coach Brad Fittler to save the series.
Game two is in Brisbane on June 21.Ā No NSW side, from one-down, has gone to the Queensland capital, squared the series, and then won it.
āNothing is impossible,ā Fittler said.
āItās obviously very tough.
āBut it is what it is. We need to regroup and be better, we have got to be better.
āBut thatās the challenge ahead. Canāt avoid it.ā
Fittler was bewildered why the Blues, in his words, āwent backwardsā in the last 10 minutes in Adelaide.
āWe got to the front. Got to a restart,ā he said.
āAnd then from there it just went downhill ā¦ the last 10 minutes, we didnāt handle it very well at all, especially when they were down to 12 (men).
āAnd I will go back and look at how that all happened ā¦Ā but it felt like we had enough opportunities to adapt.ā
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