State of Origin 2022 Game 1: New South Wales Blues v Queensland Maroons – live!
Blues #Blues
What can we expect from Billy Slater in his first head coaching gig? He’s shown bravery at the selection table, and from his comments during the week it’s clear there’ll be more traditional Origin rhetoric than we saw from Paul Green, who seemed to lack the required bombast for the role.
“This team has been important to me since I was a four-year-old boy,” Slater said. “I got the opportunity to be one of the players that wore the jersey and inspired other people and now I get the opportunity to help our group be those players to inspire our state.”
Slater’s challenge is to generate the same passion in his charges that he exhibited during the most storied of Origin careers. “We haven’t had to dive down too much into what it means to Queenslanders, these players understand it and they remember how they felt growing up and what this jersey meant to them.
“I’m confident that our group are going to play really well, they’re going to do their state, their families and themselves really proud.”
Slater also spun a believable line in modern coaching speak – controlling the controlables and all. “We have focused on what we can control and that has been our preparation. This game means so much to so many people,” Slater said.
“We all have this perception that Origin is about big moments and history tells that story and this team has had some really big moments in the 42 years of Origin but the small moments are really important and that’s what we have spoken about. The big moments will happen, they will come, but they’ll never happen if you don’t do the small moments. If you go out chasing the big moments you’ll forget about the small ones.
“We’ve had a great preparation and we’re all looking forward to the game now.”
