Queensland can beat NSW at the MCG and break a 29-year State of Origin hoodoo, Trevor Gillmeister, the last and only Maroons captain to win at the iconic venue in 1995 insists.
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Gillmeister, known as "The Axe", was skipper of a brutal 20-12 win in game two of the series under coach Paul Vautin in what became a famous 3-0 series win for the team tagged the "Neville Nobodies".
In five Origin games played at the hallowed turf, the Blues have four wins.
Gillmeister gleaned similarities between the 2024 Maroons' path and that of the 1995 side that won in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
"The draw is identical this year and I hope the result is identical," he told AAP.
The Maroons of 2024 won game one in Sydney 38-10 and Gillmeister has no doubt they will wrap the series up at the MCG.
"S*** yeah," Gillmeister said.
"I love the way (coach) Billy Slater and (captain) Daly Cherry-Evans work so well together. They have put everything into these first two games so we don't want to have to rely on going to Suncorp to win.
"I think we can play a lot better than we did in the first 15 minutes of the second half in game one where we tried to shut the game down rather than play footy.
"That's when DCE or Billy told them to go back to playing Maroons footy. Daly is 35 and doing an exceptional job as captain. Over the years he has got better with his defence which is a real feather in his cap."
The 1995 showdown at the MCG had plenty of biff.
There was Maroons great Billy Moore, famous for the 'Queenslander" chant, unleashing on NSW warhorse David Barnhill in their own private war. Blues hooker Jim Serdaris traded blows with opposite number Wayne Bartrim. Blues prop Paul Harragon and Maroons counterpart Gavin Allen also were binned for their fracas.
"It was a violent game but we had caught them on the hop in the first game when we beat them (2-0) in Sydney and they reckoned they were a bit complacent," Gillmeister said.
"In Melbourne they reckoned they were going to give it to us but we were not going to let them dominate us physically.
"Fatty (Vautin) said to us that the mail out of the NSW camp was that if someone in our team yelled out 'Queenslander' that the NSW players were going to bash us. He said, 'who is going to yell it out?' ... and about 20 arms went up'.
"That's when I knew it was going to be a fiery game. After the blues on the field NSW were carrying on like pork chops and I said to our blokes, 'let's play footy for the next 10 minutes because they have lost the plot'. We hadn't backed down in any way but we scored a couple of tries and never looked back."
In 1995 in Melbourne it was Jason Smith, who had moved from lock to five-eighth to replace the injured Dale Shearer, who played out of his skin.
Gillmeister said Smith "looked like Wally Lewis" during the clash.
The Maroons on Wednesday night will be after a similar effort from someone in their outfit.
Gillmeister likes the look of the Maroons bench with tough forwards Felise Kaufusi and Kurt Capewell getting recalls.
"They have both been there and done that at the Origin level," he said.
The similarities with 1995 are stark.
The Blues have been mouthing off about the Maroons living "in glass houses" after taking exception to fullback Reece Walsh being knocked out in game one. Blues legend Andrew Johns has also said the selection of Latrell Mitchell for NSW has Queensland rattled.
Slater was told about the record of one solitary Maroons win at the MCG, which he was already aware of.
"Two would be nice," he grinned.
Cherry-Evans, as you would expect, is not worried about the "hoodoo" as he targets a third series in a row as skipper.
"I played there in 2015. I didn't know our record there until someone told me the other day," he said.
"We don't play there consistently enough to concern ourselves with any hoodoo.
"Most players in rugby league, and I'm sure in professional sport, aren't really fussed about hoodoos.
"Every year is different, every series is different. The players change, the coaches change. It's all different again.
"There's no reason to think about hoodoos. We're going down with a job to do and a mindset. I'm really confident."
Australian Associated Press
