It’s been almost 30 years since a Blues team returned to win a home state series after losing their first game in Sydney, but two stars of that memorable 1994 NSW team have set a project for to Brad Fittler’s men.
Brilliant winger Tim Brasher and giant rower Paul Sironen admitted that things looked bleak for the Blues when Mark Coyne scored the famous last-minute attempt to beat the Queenslanders an epic Game One in this series.
“I know how this team feels, because it’s the same way we felt in ’94,” Sironen, now a member of the Blues ’management team, told Wide World of Sports from Perth.
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“When you have the first game at home, you just have to win it, and we’ve done it wrong.
“We didn’t play as well as we could have done and we didn’t execute the way we trained and we knew we would really face the rest of the series.
The Blues celebrate it after winning the third game and the 1994 Origin series 2-1 at Lang Park. (Getty)
“But what we did was turn it into an advantage by using that frustration, disappointment and anger with ourselves to stimulate ourselves.
“We matched the series in Melbourne and then it all came down to the decisive decision in Brisbane.”
Brasher has vivid memories of preparing for the important third game at Lang Park.
“Everyone was telling us that Lang Park was the cauldron and how we would do it up there and I have to admit I didn’t have as much confidence during the week before the game,” Brasher said.
“But on the night of the game, when our team bus was coming down Caxton Street and they came out of the pub and shook the bus and threw bottles at us, I think that did us a favor.
“It galvanized us, it gave us a siege mindset and we were determined to go all the way.”
The Blues won the decisive 27-12, with a young Brad Fittler playing in the centers.
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