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The New South Wales Rugby League team represents the state of New South Wales annually in the Rugby League State of Origin competition against arch-rivals Queensland. They are known as The Blues (because of their sky-blue jerseys) and are also sometimes nicknamed The Cockroaches.
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-Origin era (1908 - 1980)
The New South Wales rugby league team pre-dates the Australian national team, playing the rebel New Zealand rugby team on their first ever tour in 1907. In 1912 the New South Wales team first toured New Zealand. They also visited New Zealand in 1913 and 1922. In both 1912 and 1913 the New South Wales team played matches against full New Zealand sides.[1]
In a 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.[2]
[edit] State of Origin era (1980 - present)
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.
[edit] Players
[edit] Most recent squad
The team to play Queensland in Game 3 of the 2009 State of Origin series was named on Monday 6 July, 2009
[edit] Team of the Century
Before game I of the 2008 State of Origin series, New South Wales named their team of the century[3]:
- 1. Clive Churchill 2. Ken Irvine 3. Reg Gasnier 4. Graeme Langlands 5. Dally Messenger 6. Bob Fulton 7. Andrew Johns
- 8. Frank Burge 9. Sandy Pearce 10. Glenn Lazarus 11. Ron Coote 12. Norm Provan 13. John Raper
- 14. Wally Prigg 15. Dave Brown 16. Steve Rogers 17. Roy Bull
[edit] Captains
| Player |
Occasions |
Games 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 |
13 |
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 |
3 |
2009 |
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
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The New South Wales rugby league team of the century 1909-2007 |
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New South Wales
New South Wales 56 - 16 Queensland 
