Clean sweep king Gillmeister predicts ruthless Maroons
Joel Gould |
There are 537 men who have played State of Origin football, but Queensland great Trevor Gillmeister is the only one to have lined up in three clean sweeps.
So when the ‘Big Broom’ of Origin footy insists there is “no such thing” as a dead rubber you sit up and take notice.
Gillmeister – who played in the Maroons’ whitewashes of 1988, 1989 and 1995 – has no doubt current coach Billy Slater will have his players primed to be the first Origin outfit to win 3-0 since Queensland achieved the feat in 2010.
Incredibly, Gillmeister was also a part of that series as a defensive assistant to head coach Mal Meninga.
The Maroons, then captained by Darren Lockyer, retained the Origin shield with a 23-18 win in Sydney.
Gillmeister, known as ‘The Axe’ for his punishing defence, wants Slater’s men to chop NSW down to size at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night.
“I guarantee Billy won’t let this team take the foot off the gas either. They will want to win,” Gillmeister told AAP.
“It’s so hard to do. I remember being involved in camps with Mal in Queensland’s golden run. We won eight series in a row and we only did the clean sweep the once in 2010.
“When you are 2-nil up I guess it is human nature to take your foot off the pedal … but then you think, ‘Hang on a minute. This is Queensland versus NSW’.
“You don’t want to be in enemy territory and be getting the trophy without winning the game on the night.”
Wayne Bennett coached the champion 1988 Queensland side that Gillmeister played in. He said Slater had done a great job with the Maroons but added that prevailing in Sydney would test every bit of his coaching nous.
“The challenge for Queensland is to have the want. That’s why there haven’t been many clean sweeps over a long period of time,” Bennett said.
“NSW will want to prove something and it will depend how much Queensland really want the clean sweep. It will probably be Billy’s biggest challenge in the three games … to get them to that place.”
Gillmeister knows the rewards of getting to “that place” Bennett speaks of. His clean sweep treble is unique amongst the 229 players to have lined up for Queensland and 308 for NSW.
He captained a Maroons team tagged as coach Paul Vautin’s ‘Neville Nobodies’ to a whitewash in the 1995 series against a star-studded Blues side. The rout was wrapped up with a 24-16 win in Brisbane. Gillmeister famously tore the intravenous drip out of his infected knee and left hospital hours before kick-off to lead the team to victory. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end just talking about the win.
“To do it at Lang Park … that was gold,” he said.
“I still have vivid memories of the fans pulling the fence down over at the can bar. I was asked to go and talk to them so they didn’t all get crushed trying to get on the field. I get the shivers talking about it. That was special.”
Gillmeister said the 1989 sweep was memorable. The 16-12 win in game two in Sydney was one of the bravest in Origin history.
“In game two Alfie (Allan Langer) broke his leg, Mal (Meninga) broke his cheekbone, and Bobby Lindner broke his leg. Mick Hancock did his shoulder and Fatty (Vautin) had a busted elbow,” he recalled.
“We finished with 12 men. It was incredible .The Sydney crowd clapped us that night. That was rare.”
The hunger to emulate the great Maroons sides of the past is present in the current squad.
No.6 Cameron Munster said straight after the 32-6 win in game two that he wanted to cause “a terrible time for NSW” and win his first ever clean sweep.
The difficulty of the task at hand is not lost on skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
“We’re aware of how little it’s happened. That shows how hard it is to do,” he said.
“The greatest Queensland team ever did it only once.
“We know the challenge in front of us but I can guarantee you this side is excited about it. We’re not daunted by it.
“We haven’t reached our final destination yet. We’re proud of where we’ve come and what we’ve done … but we’re not going to rest on that just yet.”
AAP
