In 1995 and with the Super League war raging, any player aligned to the Rupert Murdoch-backed competition was banned by the establishment from playing in the State of Origin. As a result Queensland’s selectors were forced to name a team no one thought could win a game, let alone take the series 3-0. One of those players, Gavin Allen, who was the only Brisbane Bronco representative and is now a member of Mal Meninga’s support staff, told Daniel Lane how NSW could learn from the success of the "no names of '95’" as the Blues rebuild.
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SMH: How do you look back on that incredible series of 1995 when Queensland really were, for once, the underdogs?
GA: I still look at it as the best time of your life. We were selected during the Super League war, we came into camp with all the new guys, but when I reflect on it now it was such a special group of players.
SMH: What did you think when you heard the team announced? Even though the Super League war denied a lot of players the chance to play in that Origin series for Queensland, NSW still had Paul Harragon, Mark Carroll, Brad Fittler, Steve Menzies, Andrew and Matthew Johns and Tim Brasher. On paper, at least, it wasn’t a contest.
GA: I was watching Channel Nine and all these names were being read out for Queensland and I thought, 'Holy hell, who are these blokes?' I had no idea who they were. A few seconds later [teammate] Mark Hohn called me and said, 'Did you see the news? Hell, we're going to get f---ing hammered'. I said, 'Yeah, I think we’re going to get towelled up'. I mean, I’d never heard their names!
SMH: With you and Mark Hohn thinking like that, your coach, Paul Vautin, must’ve worked a miracle.
GA: We went into camp the next day and we had our first team meeting. It was amazing. We walked out of that room with an entirely different attitude and belief. We thought, 'Yeah, we can win it'.
Paul Vautin spoke to us about the situation we were in and he said it didn't matter that we didn't have the superstars because playing for Queensland wasn't about having the best players, it was about looking for players with big hearts. Then Chris "Choppy" Close stood up and he got a bit emotional when he said no one gave us a hope in hell and that the only guys who could change that perception, who could do anything about it, was us out on the field.
The meeting only lasted half an hour and I remember looking at 'Hohny' at the end and saying, 'Mate, we can win this f---ing thing'.
SMH: They must have been powerful words
GA: I still don’t know what happened but that ... belief ... I felt seemed to connect the entire squad instantly. No one in the room wanted to be THAT person to let Queensland down. That was the mentality that carried us through the series.
I remember the first game in '95, we won it 2-0 by a conversion and, looking back, I remember we didn't have the ability, or the confidence, to score a try that match. When we won the ball we just tried to hang onto it and when NSW had the ball we just pulled together and thought, 'Defend, defend, defend'. It won us the game.
SMH: I would imagine winning like that, against the superstars, must've given Queensland further belief you could win the series.
GA: I have no doubt if we hadn’t have won that game NSW would have just rolled us in the next two. They would have hammered us. But after we won that game the boys went up another level, grew another leg, it went from belief to total belief.
SMH: Do you guys keep in touch?
GA: It's funny you ask that. It's coming on 20 years. We had a 10-year reunion and every single person who was involved turned up – the managers, the doctors, the coaches, trainers, all the players, everyone. A few boys told stories and what not. Yeah, it was like a call to arms and it was special, just like it was 19 years ago.
Queensland Game 1
1. Robbie O’Davis (Newcastle)
2. Brett Dallas (North Sydney)
3. Mark Coyne (St George)
4. Danny Moore (Manly)
5. Matt Sing (Penrith)
6. Dale Shearer (South Queensland Crushers)
7. Adrian Lam (Sydney Roosters)
8. Tony Hearn (North Sydney)
9. Wayne Bartrim (St George)
10. Gavin Allen (Brisbane)
11. Trevor Gillmeister (South Queensland Crushers)
12. Gary Larson (North Sydney)
13. Billy Moore (North Sydney)
14. Ben Ikin (Gold Coast)
15. Terry Cook (South Queensland Crushers)
16. Mark Hohn (South Queensland Crushers)
17. Craig Teevan (South Queensland Crushers)
Coach: Paul Vautin
NSW
1. Tim Brasher (Balmain)
2. Rod Wishart (Illawarra)
3. Terry Hill (Manly)
4. Paul McGregor (Illawarra)
5. Craig Hancock (Manly)
6. Matthew Johns (Newcastle)
7. Andrew Johns (Newcastle)
8. Paul Harragon (Newcastle)
9. Jim Serdaris (Western Suburbs)
10. Mark Carroll (Manly)
11. Brad Mackay (Western Reds)
12. Steve Menzies (Manly)
13. Brad Fittler (Penrith)
14. Greg Florimo (North Sydney)
15. David Fairleigh (North Sydney)
16. Matt Seers (North Sydney)
17. Adam Muir (Newcastle)
Coach: Phil Gould
Results
Game 1 Queensland beat NSW 2-0
Game 2: Queensland beat NSW 20-12
Game 3: Queensland beat NSW 24-16
