Wayne Bennett is on the verge of one of his finest coaching achievements with Queensland one win away from reclaiming the State of Origin shield.
Bennett is arguably the greatest coach of all-time, with seven premierships and five Origin series wins.
At the moment, his effort with nine Queensland rookies in 2001 and his masterstroke to help Brisbane to the 2006 premiership with Shane Perry at halfback are among his greatest feats.
But if the Maroons clinch one of the next two games to take the series, it will almost certainly torpedo all of his other achievements.
Down 10-0 at half-time in Wednesday’s series opener after heading into the match with eight rookies and biggest Origin outsiders in more than 20 years, most had written off the Maroons.
All except those in Queensland’s sheds.
Captain Daly Cherry-Evans stood up in the second half and was immense.
Cameron Munster shrugged off his premiership hangover and scored one try and had a hand in another.
Centre Kurt Capewell was brilliant. He was rock solid in defence, pressuring the Blues in the second half, and laid on the first try for fellow rookie AJ Brimson with a bust and kick.
Dane Gagai produced the kind of performance he is renowned for at Origin level, while another rookie, hooker Jake Friend finished with 52 tackles.
“I was proud of them,” Bennett said.
“I wasn’t worried about the self-belief. They put a maroon jersey on and they know the expectation that comes with it.
“They trained excellently for 10 days, I knew that self-belief wasn’t going to beat them tonight.
“10-0 was always beatable … I thought we won it in the first half because we hung in there.”
Bennett wouldn’t categorise Wednesday’s win to be one of the Maroons’ or his best, knowing there are still two crucial games ahead.
Queensland were in the same position last year, up 1-0 in the series, before they went down 2-1.
But they will be stronger again next week at ANZ Stadium.
Valentine Holmes is due back from suspension and will play at either fullback or on the wing, while Corey Allan is also available.
Brenko Lee should also be fit if required after missing with a calf strain, while Capewell is expected to have no issue shrugging off a groin complaint that ended his night early.
“It’s a bit like a horse trainer, you have to see how they all pull up. You’ve only got seven days,” Bennett said.
“Experience makes you better, they will be better.
“They just have to be tough enough mentally to come back and want to repeat what they did tonight. They have to do that.
“The team that has been beaten will have a better attitude than what they did tonight.”
