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Blues coach Laurie Daley offered a final gem on the eve of Origin III.
“If you think you know what the script is going to be, you’re kidding yourself,” Daley said. Quite prophetic in hindsight, don’t you think?
The Blues went on to win the unwinnable match to send Daley out a winner thanks to a remarkable long-range try from Bradman Best that iced one of the most unlikely Origin victories in history.
The 30-12 result was everything Daley and the Blues could have dreamed of and more, as Nathan Cleary’s entered a new stratosphere with a near perfect showing.
For the past three weeks, Daley has been largely emotionless, offering up a thousand-yard stare at many of his interactions with the press. No one copped it more after the Blues’ insipid game two display in Melbourne.
But when Cam Murray planted the ball down for the Blues’ third try inside half an hour, to put NSW out to an 18-0 lead, Daley pumped his fist and let out a cheer that looked like it had been pent-up inside of him for weeks.
On the sideline at full-time, the coach burst into tears. He hugged anyone he could as the emotions of the campaign flooded out of him.
Phil Gould’s pre-match declaration that Daley was the greatest player ever to pull on a sky blue jersey was a timely and clever show of support from an old ally for a player-turned-coach desperate to end his second stint with the Blues on a high.
Daley had grown tired of answering questions about his future. He wanted his team to just win. Did they ever.
A gorgeous right-foot step from genius No.7 Nathan Cleary, who then beat four hapless Queensland defenders to score, ignited a Blues onslaught that would give Daley the last laugh on a night he and his NSW players will never forget.
Silence at Suncorp Stadium was Daley’s drug of choice on Wednesday evening. There was plenty of it in the dying moments, as disgruntled Maroons fans exited early wondering what the hell had just transpired. In a sea of blue and maroon, yellow seats began appearing after 70 minutes.
The only shame was that a full bay of Blues fans were down the other end when Cleary dived over for two game-changing tries and Murray sneaked his own four-pointer.
Daley’s numbers – two series win from seven, nine victories from 21 matches, a win rate of 42.9 per cent - still represents the poorest record of any NSW coach with at least two wins. Reckon he cared as he grinned from ear to ear after full-time? Mission accomplished, against all the odds.
Daley has been part of five Origin deciders but, importantly, only the four defeats now, after finally breaking his game three hoodoo.
Blues assistant Matt King came out swinging on match day, insisting “criticism should be on performance”. He felt it had all got too personal towards Daley in recent weeks. There will be none of that today after a famous NSW victory that almost came undone by a rampaging Queensland side energised by Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh.
NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden had been under fire for appointing Daley for a second stint in charge ahead of the 2025 series, having won two of his previous seven games. Trodden was as elated as Daley as he drank a can of Tooheys New in the sheds afterwards.
There are always uncontrollables as a coach. Like the fact that it took the Blues seven minutes and 40 seconds for Hudson Young to get them out of their half for the first time.
Or that Jack Bostock looked like he was auditioning for a soap ad by letting a likely try slip between his fingers in the Blues’ first set in enemy territory.
But there are variables you can bank on, like the fact that Cleary having two bad games in a row is as rare as a (sky) blue moon. That the likes of dynamic and determined forwards, Payne Haas and Liam Martin, victors in this arena before, wouldn’t let their coach or their state down.
As Cleary nailed his long-range penalty, to put the Blues ahead by 14 points with 10 minutes remaining, Daley could finally relax. It was fitting that the kick sailed down towards those very same committed Blues fans who believed in their team more than almost everyone else in the state.
