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===Pre-Origin era (1907–1980)=== ===Pre-Origin era (1907–1980)===
]The New South Wales rugby league team pre-dates the ], playing their first ever match against a ] on their ] under existing ] rules. That inaugural "All Blues" side, the first football team assembled by the newly formed ] was: ]The New South Wales rugby league team pre-dates the ], playing their first ever match against a ] on their ] under existing ] rules. That inaugural "All Blues" side, the first football team assembled by the newly formed ] was:
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The following year the ] traveled to Sydney for the first 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. The following year the ] traveled to Sydney for the first 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.

Revision as of 01:57, 7 August 2014

New South Wales
Badge of New South Wales team
Team information
NicknamesThe Blues
The Cockroaches
Governing bodyNew South Wales Rugby League
Head coachLaurie Daley
CaptainPaul Gallen
Most capsClive Churchill (27)
Top try-scorerMichael O'Connor (11)
Top point-scorerMichael O'Connor (129)
Home stadiumANZ Stadium (84,000)
Uniforms
First colours
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 69-5Queensland
(Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney; 4 June 1957)
Biggest defeat
Queensland 38–0 New South Wales
(Brisbane Exhibition Ground; 3 July 1926)

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 neighbouring team, the Queensland rugby league team. This annual event is 3 games to battle for the State of Origin shield. The Blues are captained by Paul Gallen and coached by Laurie Daley as of 2013.

Previously the New South Wales team, in addition to playing annually against Queensland, played matches against foreign touring sides and toured overseas themselves. They have played all their home matches at Stadium Australia, New South Wales' largest stadium, since it was built in 1999.

History

Pre-Origin era (1907–1980)

The inaugural 'All Blues' squad of 1907.

The New South Wales rugby league team pre-dates the Australian national team, playing their first ever match against a rebel New Zealand rugby team on their first ever tour in 1907 under existing rugby union rules. That inaugural "All Blues" side, the first football team assembled by the newly formed NSWRFL was:

The following year the Queensland rugby league team traveled to Sydney for the first 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.

The first New South Wales team to go to Queensland in 1910.

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 toured New Zealand in 1922.

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.

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.

State of Origin era (1980 – present)

New South Wales' dominance over Queensland came to an abrupt end with the introduction of 'state of origin' selection rules in the early 1980s.

Due to 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, and 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 made the decision to step down from his role, despite continual pleas from the NSWRL to stay. Stuart took the job as the Parramatta Eels head coach in 2013, citing family reasons for his move. Despite the fact that the Blues continued their losing streak during Stuart's tenure, he is commonly 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.

Laurie Daley, on 21 August 2012, was reported that he would be the NSW State of Origin coach from 2013, taking over from former Canberra team mate Ricky Stuart. Daley got the job in preference to other candidates including Trent Barrett, Brad Fittler and Daniel Anderson. Daley is looking to lead the Blues to their first series win since 2005, and comes up against long time Canberra and Australian team mate Mal Meninga who has coached the Maroons to those seven straight series wins. New South Wales' record for consecutive series losses extended to eight in 2013.

Colours and badge

The primary club colour of New South Wales Blues is sky blue, which represents the state colour of New South Wales. The secondary club colour is navy blue, with additional contrasting colour of white.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period Kit manufacturer Major Sponsor Minor Sponsor Shorts Sponsor
2012– Classic Sportswear Victoria Bitter nib GIO

Players

For the list of New South Wales Blues cap numbers, see List of New South Wales rugby league team players. For the list of New South Wales Blues squads by year, see List of New South Wales rugby league team squads.

Most recent squad from the 2014 State of Origin series

Position Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
Fullback Jarryd Hayne
Wing Brett Morris Will Hopoate James McManus
Centre Josh Morris Josh Dugan
Centre Michael Jennings Josh Morris
Wing Daniel Tupou
Five-eighth Josh Reynolds
Halfback Trent Hodkinson
Prop Aaron Woods Paul Gallen (c)
Hooker Robbie Farah
Prop James Tamou Aaron Woods
Second row Beau Scott
Second row Ryan Hoffman
Lock Paul Gallen (c) Greg Bird
Interchange Trent Merrin James Tamou
Interchange Anthony Watmough Boyd Cordner
Interchange Luke Lewis Trent Merrin
Interchange Tony Williams Luke Lewis
Coach Laurie Daley
18th Man Josh Jackson Tony Williams
19th Man Will Hopoate Jarrod Croker

Team of the Century (1908–2007)

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:

No. Position Player

Clive Churchill – FB Ken Irvine – WG Reg Gasnier – CE Graeme Langlands – CE Dally Messenger – WG Bob Fulton – FE Andrew Johns – HB Frank Burge – PR Sandy Pearce – HK

No. Position Player

Glenn Lazarus – PR Ron Coote – SR Norm Provan – SR John Raper – LK Wally Prigg – positions Dave Brown – positions Steve Rogers – positions Roy Bull – positions

Origin greats

As part of the 25-year celebrations in 2005, New South Wales named 25 legends for each year before that.

No. Position Player

Tim Brasher – FB Noel Cleal – SR Bradley Clyde – LK Laurie Daley – FE Ben Elias – HK Andrew Ettingshausen – CE Brad Fittler – FE Eric Grothe – WG Paul Harragon – PR Garry Jack – FB Andrew Johns – HB Brett Kenny – FE

No. Position Player

Glenn Lazarus – PR Paul McGregor – CE Steve Mortimer – HB Michael O'Connor – WG Wayne Pearce – LK Ray Price – LK Steve Roach – PR Ian Roberts – PR Paul Sironen – SR Peter Sterling – HB Ricky Stuart – HB Geoff Toovey – HB Rod Wishart – WG

Captains

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 Game 4 1987
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, Game 1 & 2 2010
Trent Barrett 1 Game 3 2010
Paul Gallen 8 2011–2014
Robbie Farah 1 Game 3 2013

Coaches

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.

Coach Era Games Wins Success %
Ted Glossop 1980–1981, 1983 5 1 20%
Frank Stanton 1982, 1984 6 2 33%
Terry Fearnley 1985 3 2 66%
Ron Willey 1986–1987 7 5 71%
John Peard 1988 3 0 0%
Jack Gibson 1989–1990 6 2 33%
Tim Sheens 1991 3 1 33%
Phil Gould 1992–1996; 2002–2004 24 14 58%
Tommy Raudonikis 1997–1998 6 3 50%
Wayne Pearce 1999–2001 9 5 56%
Ricky Stuart 2005; 2011–2012 9 4 44%
Graham Murray 2006–2007 6 2 33%
Craig Bellamy 2008–2010 9 2 22%
Laurie Daley 2013-present 5 3 60%

Selectors

The current New South Wales State of Origin side's selection panel consists of Bob Fulton, Bob McCarthy and Geoff Gerard. During the Blues five series loss from 2006 to 2010 they came in for criticism. The selectors have come under increasing amounts of criticism as NSW also lost the series in 2011, 2012 and 2013 making it a record 8 series losses in a row for the Blues.

Notes

a. Young switched places with Ennis to play in the starting side after being initially selected for the bench.

See also

References

  1. Baker, Andrew (20 August 1995). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. independent.co.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  2. ARL (2008). "Australian Rugby Football League 2008 Annual Report" (pdf). Australian Rugby Football League Limited. p. 30. Retrieved 19 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. "League names Origin greats". Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  4. Swanton, Will (22 May 2010). "Selectors are wrong, wrong, wrong, unless they're right, of course". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax. Retrieved 21 May 2010.

External links

State of Origin
New South WalesQueensland
Series
The New South Wales rugby league team of the century 1908–2007
New South Wales Rugby league in New South Wales
Federations
Representative competitions
Representative teams
NRL clubs
NSWRL Junior Representatives
Metropolitan Competitions
Country Competitions
Discontinued competitions
Related Articles

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