Cooper Cronk among big names snubbed as Origin 'dream teams' revealed
One man had the unenviable task of picking his best QLD and NSW Origin teams of all time.
Meet the man who sat through more than 9000 minutes – or around 150 hours - of State of Origin football to come up with the best sides of all time. Author Liam Hauser watched the DVD box set of every Origin game, in chronological order, from 1980-2019 before arriving at his best 17-man line-ups for Queensland and NSW.
The dream teams are the feature of Hauser's new book – The Immortals of State of Origin – and debate is already raging over those who missed selection. Some of rugby league's all-time greats feature among the 34 players selected, with Mal Meninga (Qld) and Phil Gould (NSW) anointed the best coaches over that 40-year time span.
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Having worked on two previous Origin projects, Hauser had notes compiled on every Origin player. But in selecting his best sides from 1980-2019, he went back over every single game to refresh his memory and ensure his criteria was as tight and exacting as possible.
"Usually, I'd watch one game a day, sometimes two if I had enough time. It took a few months," Hauser told Yahoo Sport Australia. "I'd have my word file opened at the same time as the DVD player going and update it and refresh it and improve it rather than just rehash the manuscript I'd written previously.
"Having watched every game actually came in handy as far as being able to analyse and critique the players and the impact they had. There were certainly a lot of worthy players I had to leave out."
Halfback was the position that gave Hauser most headaches. "I've picked Johnathan Thurston, which meant I had to leave Allan Langer and Cooper Cronk out of the Queensland side," he said.
"Likewise for NSW where I went with Andrew Johns over players like Steve Mortimer, Peter Sterling and Ricky Stuart. I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with my selections but you can’t pick them all."
Hauser's strict criteria didn't allow him to choose someone as a player and a coach, meaning Meninga didn’t make the playing squad. "Mal would be a first-choice centre for a lot of people but Queensland actually only won 15 of 32 games he played in. And when he captained, he never actually led them to a series win," Hauser explained.
"To coach them to nine series wins in 10 years made him a far more straightforward choice to pick as coach and leave him out as a player." The NSW side features three Blues coaches - Brad Fittler, Laurie Daley and Wayne Pearce – but Gould's success across two separate stints easily gave him the nod.
Big dilemmas in picking greatest ever Origin sides
Separating three brilliant five-eighths - Brad Fittler, Brett Kenny and Laurie Daley – wasn't as easy. So Hauser found room for Fittler and Kenny elsewhere in the side and slotted Daley in at No.6.
"In my opinion, all three deserve to be there but including all three was certainly difficult but I managed. So, now for the big question: Who wins between these two sides?
Brisbane-based Hauser doesn’t hesitate, declaring: "Queensland by two points, 18-16, at the Cauldron (Suncorp Stadium) with Cameron Smith man-of-the-match."
Queensland dream team
Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Gene Miles, Dane Gagai, Wally Lewis, Johnathan Thurston, Shane Webcke, Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Nate Myles, Gary Larson, Bob Lindner.
Interchange: Darren Lockyer, Steve Price, Arthur Beetson, Trevor Gillmeister
Coach: Mal Meninga
New South Wales dream team
Tim Brasher, Michael O’Connor, Brett Kenny, Paul McGregor, Andrew Ettingshausen, Laurie Daley, Andrew Johns, Glenn Lazarus, Danny Buderus, Paul Harragon, Wayne Pearce, Boyd Cordner, Brad Fittler.
Interchange: Geoff Toovey, Steve Menzies, David Gillespie, Steve Roach.
Coach: Phil Gould
The Immortals of State of Origin by Liam Hauser (Gelding Street Press $39.99)
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