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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2684685, member: 1899"] The 2006 Origin series was such a roller coaster. After witnessing the 2005 series, I felt completely burned on Origin. That should have been the Maroons series, but NSW found that little bit extra and completely demoralised the Maroons in front of their home crowd in the first Origin game I attended. To say I was shattered was an understatement. 2006 rolls around, Blues go in without Minichiello, Johns & Kennedy, arguably their three best players and have to play with Finch ala one of the least impressive halves in the competition. Surely it all begins here? Nope. The Maroons psyche themselves out and get completely stomped over by Mason. Then all the reports resurface, the front row is too old, Lockyer is a hack etc and a series win is looking very unlikely when the Maroons have to select two relative unknowns in Mogg and Lillyman. Everyone knows the Mogg story, but a lot of people forget that Lillyman had spent more time playing for the Young Guns than he did for the Cowboys. It seemed as if Mal 'Couldn't Coach To Save My Life' Meninga had one upped Hagan and tried to paint himself as an even poorer coach. Then they hit Suncorp and produce one of the best performances I'd seen from a Queensland side. The last time I'd seen a performance like this, it was a dead rubber that felt more like a consolation than anything else. This felt far more satisfying and restored my faith in the Maroons and a lot of it's players. By the time Game III rolls around, I have no idea what to expect. Queensland still have a really good care in JT, Lockyer, Smith and the front row but Hunt, Hodges and Bell had been so integral to that performance in Game II that it could be anyone's guess. By the time Grothe scored his second try, I felt sick. It wasn't our night, long-range intercept tries, dodgy referee calls...it just wasn't looking good especially with our rag-tag backline. The next 20 minutes or so was just agony. Plenty of half-breaks but there just isn't anything doing. The Blues have got the advantage in the backs and on the bench so breaking their line in this context is next to impossible. By the time Myles put in a nothing grubber for himself and Wesser found himself passing the ball to Cam Smith on the wing I succumbed to the thought that it wasn't going to happen. And boy did I ever blow up over that Wesser incident. I didn't have a lot of ways to express what I was feeling so I just turned the TV off for a tick, let out a few expletives and logged onto LU to see what they were saying. Some goose was singing We Are The Champions and at that point I thought screw this, one try will sort this so I flick it back on and the Maroons have the ball. Schif, who is one of my favourite non-Broncos of all time picks the ball up scurries from dummy half before throwing a speculator to JT. JT, who was one of the Maroons most dangerous players on the night, steps back through the gap before firing it out to Tate who scores one of the most important tries in Origin history. Game on. Then that Lockyer try... I must have watched the replay a 100 times now. The side on image is so iconic to me it may as well be the Mona Lisa. If ever there was a belief in Footy Theism, it was realised that night when a player like Lockyer is given that kind of opportunity to be the hero. I was so elated. The next five was the longest five minutes of my RL fandom. Every moment mattered with Mogg going close to scoring, Wesser nearly giving up a try (my eyes nearly bulged out of my head) and then the last set where the Maroons tackled everything that moved. And Lockyer's speech was perfect. "You've waited 3 years for this but for next 12 months this is yours." Nobody would have thought it was more like 96 months. Jesus guys, time to marathon the 8 series in a row again. [/QUOTE]

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