NSW Blues Keep Joey Johns Under Armed Guard Like A White Rhino Because He's The Last Bloke Down South Who Gets Origin
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT Another State Of Origin series, another valiant effort from the people NSW who are now just
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Another State Of Origin series, another valiant effort from the people NSW who are now just going through the paces ahead of game 1.
After last year's electric game 3 decider, the question remains, how can NSW foster a winning culture if they keep getting demoralised and emotionally battered by the Queensland Spirit.
NSW snatched a loss out of the jaws of victory in 2025, as a supersonic Maroons ride emerged in the dead of winter to take the whokle series back to Queensland with a comfortable 12-point victory.
This is a feeling that the NSW Blues know all too well. In fact, they are so used to feeling this way, that they've forgotten how to feel any other way.
Queensland have won 14 State of Origin series in the last 20 years, with eight of those series being won consecutively during the famous eight-in-a-row streak of 2006 to 2013.
And every time it appears like a new dynasty is forming amongst the young NSW recruits, something dreadful happens, and inevitably the coach is sack or the captain is dropped.
Queensland, however, have become native to the winning culture that has delivered them two decades of dominance at the inter-state brand.
The Blues have lost their spark, with even their highest profile former greats stumped as to what the team can do next to counter the mythical Queensland.
The 'cattle dog' era died with the late great Tommy Raudonikis, a great NSW man whose rugby league IQ was only strengthened relocating to Ipswich upon retirement.
There hasn't been anything that resembles a Blues equivalent of the Queensland spirit since the early 2000s.
Nobody south of the Tweed gets Origin anymore. Nobody.
Except for maybe one bloke. The near-extinct white rhino of New South Wales rugby league. Andrew 'Joey' Johns.
Joey is reportedly being kept under armed guard in his home suburb of Bronte by anti-poaching militants.
The guards have been recruited by NSW rugby league to protect the ancient knowledge and the remnants of a great empire.
Can they clone him? Ethical debates rage. Joey already has a brother, but he never really got it either.
All they can do is follow the Queensland example, and breed him with Kiwis.