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Representative rugby league team for New South Wales From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against Queensland. For 2024, the team was coached by Michael Maguire and captained by Jake Trbojevic.
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| Team information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Blues Cockroaches | |||||
| Governing body | New South Wales Rugby League | |||||
| Head coach | Vacant | |||||
| Captain | Jake Trbojevic[1] | |||||
| Most caps | Wally Prigg (34)[2] | |||||
| Top try-scorer | Ken Irvine (30) | |||||
| Top point-scorer | Mick Cronin (183) | |||||
| Home stadium | Accor Stadium (84,000) | |||||
| Uniforms | ||||||
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| Team results | ||||||
| First game | ||||||
 New South Wales 8–12 New Zealand  (Royal Agricultural Society Ground, Sydney; 1907) | ||||||
| First State of Origin game | ||||||
 Queensland 20–10 New South Wales (Lang Park, Brisbane; 8 July 1980) | ||||||
| Biggest win | ||||||
| New South Wales 69–5 Queensland (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney; 4 June 1957) | ||||||
| Biggest defeat | ||||||
| Queensland 52–6 New South Wales (Suncorp Stadium; 8 July 2015) | ||||||
Prior to 1980 when the "state of origin" selection criteria was introduced, the New South Wales team, in addition to playing annually against Queensland, played matches against foreign touring sides and occasionally toured overseas themselves. Their home stadium is Accor Stadium in Sydney, the largest stadium in the state, having been constructed for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The New South Wales team retained the 2019 Holden State of Origin Shield after beating Queensland 2–1 after being down 1–0, becoming the first NSW team to win a decider since 2005, and were victorious again in the 2021 series.
The New South Wales rugby league team pre-dates the Australian national team, playing their inaugural match against a rebel New Zealand rugby team on the 1907–08 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain under existing rugby union rules. That inaugural "All Blues" side, the first football team assembled by the newly formed NSWRFL was:
Backs: Charles Hedley · Johnno Stuntz · Ed Fry · Dally Messenger · Frank Cheadle · Albert Rosenfeld · Lou D'Alpuget
Forwards: Harry Hamill · Arthur Hennessy · Bob Mable · Peter Moir · Sid Pearce · Billy Cann · Robert Graves · Herb Brackenreg
Two further matches were played against New Zealand before their tour took them to the Northern Hemisphere, with Jim Devereaux also featuring for the Blues. The visiting All Golds won all three games. However, on the return leg of their tour, almost a year later, with the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership established, the Blues won the first two matches they ever played under 13-a-side rules against New Zealand. Later in 1908 the Queensland team, whose first taste of rugby league football was also against the visiting Kiwis, traveled to Sydney for the first series of games between the two states. New South Wales won all three matches, setting a precedent for interstate dominance that would continue throughout most of the 20th century.
In 1910 New South Wales defeated the touring England team in two of their three games. After that they became the first Blues side to travel to Queensland for the annual interstate series.
In 1912 the New South Wales team first toured New Zealand. They also visited New Zealand in 1913. During the 1913 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia New South Wales played four matches against the Kiwis, winning three of them.
The New South Wales team lost its first game against Queensland in 1922. In 2019 the Blues also toured New Zealand.
During the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand New South Wales played one match against the successful France national rugby league team, a 14-all draw.
The New South Wales team hosted 2 matches of the 1953 American All Stars tour of Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, winning 62–41 and 27–18.
In a 1954 tour match between Great Britain and New South Wales the referee left the field in disgust at the players' persistent fighting after 56 minutes so the match was abandoned.[3]
New South Wales' dominance over Queensland came to an end with the introduction of 'state of origin' selection rules in the early 1980s.
During the Super League war, in 1997 New South Wales was represented by two teams: one made up of players from clubs that remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League, which competed in the 1997 State of Origin series; another made up of players from clubs that joined the rebel Super League which competed in the one-off Super League Tri-series.
Ricky Stuart, who had previously coached New South Wales in 2005, was announced as the first full-time Blues coach in November 2010. Following the 2012 series, the Blues' seventh consecutive loss, Stuart resigned the role. Stuart took a role as the Parramatta Eels head coach in 2013, citing family reasons for his move. Although the Blues continued their losing streak during Stuart's tenure, he is credited with restoring passion and pride to the NSW jersey and closing the gap between the two states. He was replaced by former Canberra, NSW and Australia teammate Laurie Daley. Daley's appointment as NSW State of Origin coach was announced in August 2012 and effective from season 2013. Daley got job over candidates including Trent Barrett, Brad Fittler and Daniel Anderson. Daley coached the Blues to a series win in 2014, their first since 2005 and over his coaching rival and long time Canberra & Australian teammate Mal Meninga. Daley ended Meninga's and Queensland's run of eight series wins with victories in Game I and Game II of the 2014 series. In 2015, New South Wales suffered its biggest origin loss losing 52–6 against Queensland in the decider. In 2016, New South Wales lost the series 2–1 but managed to win the third and final dead rubber game. In 2017, New South Wales were widely tipped to win the series as Queensland had a number of key players injured. In Game 1, New South Wales beat Queensland in convincing fashion 28–4 and in Game 2 were leading the maroons 16–6 at halftime before Queensland won the game in the final two minutes to win 18–16. In Game 3, New South Wales lost the series losing 22–6 in Brisbane. In August 2017, Daley was terminated as coach of New South Wales.[4]
In 2018, Brad Fittler was appointed as the new coach and left out established players such as Aaron Woods, Josh Jackson, Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan. The Blues went on to win the series 2–1.[5] In 2019, the Blues were widely tipped to win the series owing to the retirement from representative football of Queensland Origin greats Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith. However, Queensland had an upset win 18–14 over the Blues in Game 1 forcing Fittler to make seven changes to the Blues starting line-up. Though he was roundly criticised for the move,[6] the Blues went on to win the series 2–1, easily defeating Queensland 38–6 in Game 2 in Optus Stadium in Perth Western Australia, the greatest winning margin of a Blues squad since Game 3, 2000.[7] Finally, in a thrilling Game 3 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, winger Blake Ferguson and fullback James Tedesco combined to score the winning try with just 32 seconds to go in the game to secure the series, off the back of play started from recalled halfback Mitchell Pearce.[8] In the 2020 State of Origin series, New South Wales narrowly lost game 1 against Queensland 18–14 before bouncing back in game 2 winning 34–10. In game 3, New South Wales travelled to Brisbane for the decider, the blues would lose the match at Suncorp Stadium 20–14.[9] The 2021 State of Origin series was one which had been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic with all three matches being played in Queensland. New South Wales would win convincingly in game 1 defeating Queensland 50–6 in Townsville before defeating Queensland 26–0 in Brisbane to claim the series. Queensland managed to avoid a series clean sweep by winning game 3 20–18.[10] New South Wales started the 2022 State of Origin series with a narrow 16–10 loss in Sydney before a convincing 44–12 victory over Queensland in Perth during game 2. In game 3, the blues once again needed to play a decider in Brisbane. New South Wales lead the game 12–10 at half-time but conceded two late tries in the second half and lost 22–12.[11]
Ahead of the 2024 State of Origin series, Fittler stood down as head coach and was replaced by Michael Maguire. In game one of the 2024 series, New South Wales lost 38–10 in Sydney. The game was marred by the sending off of Joseph Sua'ali'i in the seventh minute. In game two, New South Wales would win 38–18 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to set up a decider in Brisbane. In game three, New South Wales would win 14–4 to claim the series and their first win in a decider at Brisbane since 2005.[12]
On 1 October 2024, Michael Maguire stepped down as coach of the team with a search underway for a new coach.[13]
The primary colour of New South Wales Blues is sky blue, which represents the state colour of New South Wales. The secondary colour is navy blue, with additional contrasting colour of white.
– Denotes no applicable sponsor for the listed period.
~ Major sponsor logo was featured on the jersey sleeve rather than the front from 1991–2003.
^ Indicates the sponsor was the naming-rights partner of the State of Origin series at the time, but the logo was displayed independently of the State of Origin logo.
The official New South Wales rugby league team supporter group is known as "Blatchy's Blues".[14][15][16][17][18]
State of Origin (17): 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024
Interstate Series (54): 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 197, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
Before Game I of the 2008 State of Origin series, to celebrate the game's centenary that year, New South Wales named their team of the century:[19]
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Ahead of the 2017 State of Origin series, NSW named the inaugural inductees to the NSWRL Hall of Fame, joining automatic inductees Dally Messenger and the seven Immortals who represented NSW.[20]
| Immortal | Year Inducted | Club/s |
|---|---|---|
| Dally Messenger | Automatic Selection |  Eastern Suburbs |
| Clive Churchill | Automatic Selection |  South Sydney |
| Bob Fulton | Automatic Selection |  Manly-Warringah Eastern Suburbs |
| Reg Gasnier | Automatic Selection |  St. George |
| Johnny Raper | Automatic Selection |  Newtown St. George |
| Graeme Langlands | Automatic Selection | St. George |
| Arthur Beetson | Automatic Selection |  Balmain Eastern Suburbs |
| Andrew Johns | Automatic Selection |  Newcastle |
| Bradley Clyde | 2017 |  Canberra  Canterbury-Bankstown |
| Ron Coote | 2017 | South Sydney Eastern Suburbs |
| Laurie Daley | 2017 | Canberra |
| Brad Fittler | 2017 |  Penrith Sydney City |
| Bob McCarthy | 2017 | South Sydney Canterbury-Bankstown |
| Norm Provan | 2017 | St. George |
| Keith Holman | 2018 |  Western Suburbs |
| Ken Irvine | 2018 |  North Sydney Manly-Warringah |
| Steve Rogers | 2018 |  Cronulla-Sutherland St. George |
| Steve Mortimer | 2019 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
| Tommy Raudonikis | 2019 | Western Suburbs Newtown |
| Billy Smith | 2021 | St. George |
| Brett Kenny | 2021 |  Parramatta |
| Glenn Lazarus | 2021 | Canberra  Brisbane  Melbourne |
As part of the 25-year celebrations in 2005, New South Wales named 25 legends for each year before that.[21]
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| Player | Occasions | Game(s) as Captain |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy Raudonikis | 1 | 1980 |
| Steve Rogers | 1 | 1981 |
| Max Krilich | 5 | 1982, Games 1 & 3 1983 |
| Ray Price | 3 | Game 2 1983, Games 1 & 2 1984 |
| Steve Mortimer | 3 | Game 3 1984, Games 1 & 2 1985 |
| Wayne Pearce | 10 | Game 3 1985, 1986–1988 |
| Peter Sterling | 1 | 1987 Exhibition Match |
| Gavin Miller | 3 | 1989 |
| Ben Elias | 6 | 1990, 1991 |
| Laurie Daley | 10 | 1992, 1993, 1998, Game 3 1999 |
| Brad Fittler | 17 | 1994–1996, Games 1 & 2 1999, 2000, 2001 |
| Geoff Toovey | 3 | 1997 |
| Andrew Johns | 6 | 2002, 2003 |
| Danny Buderus | 15 | 2004–2008 |
| Kurt Gidley | 5 | 2009, Games 1 & 2 2010 |
| Trent Barrett | 1 | Game 3 2010 |
| Paul Gallen | 16 | 2011, 2012, Games 1 & 2 2013, 2014, Games 2 & 3 2015, 2016 |
| Robbie Farah | 2 | Game 3 2013, Game 1 2015 |
| Boyd Cordner | 10 | 2017–2019, Game 1 2020 |
| James Tedesco | 10 | Games 2 & 3 2020, 2021–2023 |
| Jake Trbojevic | 3 | 2024 |
Table last updated: 14 June 2024.
New South Wales have had a total of thirteen different coaches at State of Origin level, eight of which have previously played for the Blues. The list also includes the known coaches from the pre-Origin era and only counts games against Queensland. Games against touring teams from New Zealand, Great Britain and France are not included. Ted Glossop, Frank Stanton and Terry Fearnley are the only coaches to have coached NSW in both State of Residence and State of Origin formats.
NSWRL Hall of Fame inductee Brad Fittler is the incumbent coach for the NSW Blues.[22] In his first match in charge, he chose 11 players to debut.[23]
| Coach | Era | Games | Wins | Success % | Series won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dick Dunn | 1961 | 4 | 2 | 50% | – |
| Harry Bath | 1962, 1968–1972 | 11 | 10 | 91% | – |
| Eddie Burns | 1963–1964 | 2 | 2 | 100% | – |
| Ian Walsh | 1965 | 1 | 1 | 100% | – |
| Paul Quinn | 1965 | 1 | 1 | 100% | – |
| Noel Kelly | 1966 | 3 | 3 | 100% | – |
| Reg Gasnier | 1967 | 2 | 1 | 50% | – |
| Ron Saddler | 1967 | 1 | 1 | 100% | – |
| Graeme Langlands | 1973–1976 | 12 | 9 | 75% | – |
| Ted Glossop | 1980–1981, 1983 | 9 | 5 | 55% | 0 |
| Frank Stanton | 1978–1979, 1982, 1984 | 11 | 7 | 64% | 0 |
| Terry Fearnley | 1977, 1985 | 5 | 4 | 80% | 1 |
| Ron Willey | 1986–1987 | 7 | 5 | 71% | 1 |
| John Peard | 1988 | 3 | 0 | 0% | 0 |
| Jack Gibson | 1989–1990 | 6 | 2 | 33% | 1 |
| Tim Sheens | 1991 | 3 | 1 | 33% | 0 |
| Phil Gould | 1992–1996; 2002–2004 | 24 | 14 | 58% | 6 |
| Tommy Raudonikis | 1997–1998 | 6 | 3 | 50% | 1 |
| Wayne Pearce | 1999–2001 | 9 | 5 | 56% | 1 |
| Ricky Stuart | 2005; 2011–2012 | 9 | 4 | 44% | 1 |
| Graham Murray | 2006–2007 | 6 | 2 | 33% | 0 |
| Craig Bellamy | 2008–2010 | 9 | 2 | 22% | 0 |
| Laurie Daley | 2013–2017 | 15 | 6 | 40% | 1 |
| Brad Fittler | 2018–2023 | 18 | 9 | 50% | 3 |
| Michael Maguire | 2024 | 3 | 2 | 67% | 1 |
Table last updated: 14 June 2024.
First awarded in 2005, the Brad Fittler medal is the award for the New South Wales Player of the Series.
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