With both states throwing stones across the Tweed River, this year’s rancorous Origin series was destined to end with a bang in Brisbane.
“YOU’VE got to make sure you don’t live in glass houses”.
When Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i launched his shoulder into Reece Walsh’s head seven minutes into Game One, he lit the fuse on the 2024 State of Origin series.
And when Sua’ali’i’s coach Michael Maguire launched that sledge at his opposite number Billy Slater — apparently questioning Slater’s moral authority to criticise foul play given his own disciplinary record as a player — it only fanned the flames.
The war for high ground in the media was as hotly contested as the battle for interstate supremacy on the park, after Slater simmered over questions about Sua’ali’i’s high shot.
Speaking to Australian broadcaster Fox League in the wake of the series opener, Maguire deflected suggestions that the Blues had deliberately taken out gun fullback Walsh with foul play with his cryptic ‘glass houses’ barb.
Then when journalists asked the NSW coach whether his jab was directed at Slater at an awkward joint press conference alongside Slater before Game Two in Melbourne, Maguire confirmed “you all worked that out”.
Maguire was hinting at Slater’s disciplinary rap sheet as a player, which features 10 separate charges including a seven-week ban for kicking an opponent in the head in 2006.
The first-year Blues boss doubled-downed on his accusation of maroon-hued hypocrisy in the build-up to the decider, pointing to “glass houses again” following media chatter about the Blues’ physicality in their Game Two demolition of Queensland.
‘Glass houses’ became the emblem of another characteristically bitter interstate campaign.
And with both sides throwing so many stones across the border, the Suncorp Stadium decider on July 17 was destined to end in drama — one team hoisting the shield, the other sifting through a pile of broken glass.
When Bradman Best and Mitchell Moses breached the hosts’ defence twice in three minutes deep into the second half of a classic Game Three, Maguire knew he was the coach who would enjoy the last laugh.
In his maiden interstate campaign, Maguire reclaimed the shield for the first time since 2021, condemning Slater to his first series defeat as coach.
The 50-year-old has made a career of firsts, coaching Wigan’s first title in 12 years in 2010, South Sydney’s first premiership in 43 years in 2014, New Zealand’s first silverware in nine years in 2023, and now NSW’s first series-deciding win at Suncorp in 19 years.
From the moment he delivered his series-defining quip, it was clear that Maguire assumed the main character role of the 2024 Origin series.
Whether you viewed him as a hero or a villain depends on which side of the Tweed River you live on.
Maguire’s appointment last November struggled to excite even the most ardent Blues fans.
After predecessor Brad Fittler relinquished the last two series of his six years at the helm, the man known as ‘Madge’ felt like an uninspiring fit.
While Queensland boast a cavalcade of former stars in their coaching ranks, NSW didn’t have much to choose from besides the sacked Wests Tigers coach.
And up against a stable Maroons outfit led by the vaunted Slater, Maguire suffered a horror start to life as NSW coach before a ball was even kicked.
Certain picks Nathan Cleary and Tom Trbojevic both broke down in May with serious hamstring injuries, while likely selections Moses (foot), Cameron Murray (hip) and Connor Watson (throat) — who all came in for Game Two — also sat on the casualty list.
Maguire did get his choice of fullback — Penrith’s Dylan Edwards over incumbent skipper James Tedesco — but a quad injury at training four days out brought the rejected Tedesco back in for the series opener in Sydney.
The contest was effectively over the moment referee Ashley Klein dismissed Sua’ali’i for his high shot on Walsh, with the Maroons romping to a 38-10 victory.
Despite the lopsided margin, the Blues took plenty out of Game One, making the Queenslanders sweat until the visitors ran away with it late.
And with a team sheet more to Maguire’s liking, Game Two in Melbourne was a very different story.
Five new faces — Edwards, Moses, Murray, Watson and a back-in-form Latrell Mitchell — rejuvenated the Blues, who shot to a scarcely believable 34-nil lead in a blistering first half on neutral ground.
With a mouth-watering Game Three in Brisbane on the menu, Queensland legends went into bat for their state.
Ex-enforcer Gorden Tallis took aim at Mitchell for pushing Walsh in Melbourne, warning “when the shoe’s on the other foot, don’t whinge. Don’t sit there and whinge.”
Stalwart Corey Parker urged the Maroons to adopt a mindset of “if we need to do 10 in the bin for belting someone, do it”.
The Blues even brought a DJ into camp to prepare for the hostile cacophony of noise that awaited them at the cauldron that is Suncorp Stadium.
Since Origin’s inception in 1980, NSW have headed to Brisbane for a decider on 13 occasions. They’ve taken the shield back to Sydney just twice — in 1994 and 2005.
In total, before 2024, the Blues had won just five of 22 series-deciding Game Three clashes.
With a chance to tear up the history books, Maguire’s men defied NSW’s dire record in deciders.
The New South Welshman defied an early onslaught from the rabid Queensland defence to gain control of the first half, although the hosts’ desperation and a late penalty goal meant the Blues trailed by two at the break.
The rivals traded penalty goals as the arm wrestle stretched into the second half, before Best and Moses exploited the tiring Queenslanders with their three-minute burst of skill, speed and strength.
Maguire’s DNA was evident in his side’s composed defensive display, holding the Maroons try-less at Suncorp for just the second time since the new Lang Park opened in 2003.
And when he finally got the team he wanted — one with Edwards pumping his legs at the back, Moses booting the ball on a string in the halves, and Murray adding quality to a beefy pack in the middle — things clicked with ball in hand, too.
Having won the war of words, Maguire also triumphed where it counts: on the playing field.
Few expected much of Madge in the interstate arena. A year into the job, and he’s already smashed through Slater’s glass house.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 499 (August 2024)
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