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Queensland

Team information
Nickname	Maroons
Head coach	Mal Meninga
Captain	Darren Lockyer
Most caps	Allan Langer (34)
Home stadium	Suncorp Stadium
Uniforms
First colours
Team results
Biggest win
Queensland 36 - 6 New South Wales (Lang Park, Brisbane; 23 May 1989)
Biggest defeat
New South Wales 56 - 16 Queensland (Stadium Australia, Sydney; 7 June 2000)

The Queensland State of Origin team is a rugby league team representing the state of Queensland, Australia that plays in the annual 3-match State of Origin series against arch-rivals New South Wales.

Known as the Maroons, a reference to their maroon jerseys, they are a purely representative team, traditionally made up of players from the local Brisbane Rugby League competition, however since 1988 it has consisted of National Rugby League and English Super League players.

History

Main article: History of the Queensland Maroons

Rugby league games have been played between Queensland and New South Wales since 1908, however in the early years New South Wales were the superior team, due largely to their larger and more stable club competition. The early- to mid-1920s, however, saw Queensland enter its only Pre-Origin 'golden period'. During this time they won their first ever game, in 1922, as well as another seven in succession, along with a total of 13 out of a possible 16 games between 1922 and 1926.

As the Twentieth century progressed, however, the Blues became the dominant team. Under the rules of the time, players represented the state in which they played their club football, and as New South Wales was home to many poker-machine rich clubs, the cream of Queensland's talent continually headed south of the border. However, since the introduction of State of Origin in 1980, the interstate matches have become far closer, with Queensland currently leading 39-38 in terms of games won.

Emblem

File:Qrl 1980.PNG

The iconic used until 2003

Between the early 1920s and the mid-1980s, the logo of the Queensland Maroons was the same as the Queensland Rugby League - a stylised Q alongside a Kangaroo, the mascot of the Australian touring team. Upon the beginning of State of Origin football in 1980, an embroided flag of Queensland was added to the jersey. In 198x, the logo was changed to the QRL's iconic football-in-the-Q logo, before it was integrated into a newer logo which represented only the State of Origin team, as well as the major sponsor Fourex. In 2003 the logo was again modified following an updating of the QRL's logo, and it currently is identical to the corporate logo except for the words Queensland State of Origin.

Colours

Queensland's use of maroon as the colour for its jerseys can be dated back to 1895, before the Queensland Rugby Association, later to become the Queensland Rugby League, broke away from the governing rugby union body. The first Queensland rugby team, in 1882, wore red and black jerseys, before adopting a chocolate coloured jersey in 1884. Two seasons later a dark blue jersey was adopted, only to disappear for a year and reappear in 1888, staying in use until 1894. For this period of time both New South Wales and Queensland wore blue jerseys, Queensland in the darker shade and New South Wales in their trademark sky blue. One possible reason for this is the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, which both had a strong rugby culture and were the universities of many of the key administrators at the time In 1895 Maroon was officially adopted by the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Queensland Rugby Union), and carried its use carried on to the professional code when it took to the field in 1908.

Traditionally, the Queensland jersey is maroon with a white collar, however between the late 1980s and 2003 the jersey contained more white along with silver trim. In 2004 the use of silver was replaced with gold, so as to match the new logo. The jersey has been manufactured by Canterbury since 199x, and is made out of traditional jersey fabric, as opposed to the sublimated design presently favoured by the majority of rugby league clubs.

Home Grounds

For more information on this topic, see: Suncorp Stadium

The northern enterance to Suncorp Stadium

Suncorp Stadium, formerly known as Lang Park, is rightly regarded as the spiritual home of rugby league in Queensland, as it has been home to the game for over 50 years. However, before the Queensland Rugby League signed the lease for the ground in 1956, interstate matches were predominalty played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground as well as the RNA's Brisbane Exhibition Ground.

Statistics and Records

For more information on this topic, see Queensland Maroons Records

Greatest Team

As part of the 25 Years of State of Origin, celebrated in 2005, the Former Origin Greats named their greatest ever Queensland team.

No. Position Player Gary Belcher – FB Kerry Boustead – WG Mal Meninga – CE Gene Miles – CE Wendell Sailor – WG Wally Lewis – FE Allan Langer – HB Greg Dowling – PR Steve Walters – HK

No. Position Player Arthur Beetson – PR Gorden Tallis – SR Gary Larson – SR Bob Lindner – LK Darren Lockyer – positions Chris Close – positions Paul Vautin – positions Rod Morris – positions

Current Queensland eligibility list

The following is a list of players in the National Rugby League who are eligible to play for Queensland.

Brisbane Broncos Shaun BERRIGAN Darius BOYD Dane CARLAW Tonie CARROLL Petero CIVONICEVA Ben HANNANT Justin HODGES Karmichael HUNT Nick KENNY Ian LACEY Darren LOCKYER Brent McCONNELL Steve MICHAELS Joel MOON Corey PARKER Shane PERRY David STAGG Brent TATE David TAYLOR Sam THAIDAY Brad THORN Bulldogs Jon GREEN Dallas McILWAIN Willie TONGA Canberra Raiders Marshall CHALK Neville COSTIGAN Andrew DUNEMANN Craig FRAWLEY Ben JONES Scott LOGAN Alan ROTHERY William ZILLMAN		Cronulla Sharks Dustin COOPER Josh HANNAY Kevin KINGSTON Ben ROSS Brett SEYMOUR Gold Coast Titans Clint AMOS Gavin COOPER Nathan FRIEND Kris KAHLER Brad MEYERS David MYLES Luke O’DWYER Scott PRINCE Mat ROGERS Chris WALKER Manly Sea Eagles Matt BALLIN Steve BELL Travis BURNS Jon GRIEVE Mark OFFERDAHL Luke WILLIAMSON Melbourne Storm Scott ANDERSON Michael CROCKER Cooper CRONK Israel FOLAU Greg INGLIS Dallas JOHNSON Antonio KAUFUSI Billy SLATER Cameron SMITH Jeremy SMITH		Newcastle Knights Kirk REYNOLDSON David SEAGE Milton THAIDAY North Queensland Cowboys Scott BOLTON Brenton BOWEN Matthew BOWEN Paul BOWMAN* Ashley GRAHAM Rod JENSEN Jacob LILLYMAN Scott MINTO Jackson NICOLAU Aaron PAYNE Matt SCOTT Jason SMITH* Johnathan THURSTON Shane TRONC Carl WEBB Ty WILLIAMS Parramatta Eels PJ Marsh Tim SMITH Daniel WAGON Penrith Panthers Matt BELL Rhys WESSER St George Illawarra Tom HEWITT Lagi SETU		South Sydney Shannon HEGARTY Jaiman LOWE Germaine PAULSON Sydney Roosters Chris BEATTIE Chris FLANNERY Ashley HARRISON Nate MYLES Danny NUTLEY Sam PERRETT David SHILLINGTON Charlie TONGA New Zealand Warriors George GATIS Micheal LUCK Tony MARTIN Steve PRICE Grant ROVELLI Michael WITT Wests Tigers Luke HARLEN

*Retired from Representative rugby league.