To celebrate the Holden State of Origin series we at NRL.com are celebrating by asking fans to vote on their favourite Origin moment. Today, a classic try from the early Origin era goes up against a Queensland legend capping an historic winning streak.
Dowling's legendary try
One of rugby league's most celebrated displays of skill came from one its unlikeliest sources, with rugged Queensland prop Greg Dowling producing a slips catch Mark Waugh would’ve been proud of in the mud and slop of an SCG quagmire to score a crucial four-pointer for the Maroons in a series clinching 14-2 win. With the first producing one hell of a brawl between Ray Price and Chris Close but not a single point, Wally Lewis chipped over the NSW defence early in the second half in an attempt to find the vacant in-goal area, only for the sodden ball to clip the cross-bar. With finger tip control Dowling reels in the pill just inches above where the turf would have been were it not buried beneath a layer if gooey mud, and plunges over for one of Origin's most famous tries.
Queensland make it eight
It was a special night for the Maroons as they wrapped up a record eighth straight series victory on foreign territory, etching themselves into Australian sporting history as one of the nation's greatest ever sporting dynasties. Fittingly it was the only man to play in every single game of Queensland's record run, Johnathan Thurston, who scored the game's first try with a typically elusive surge in the 10th minute. Renowned as one of the NRL's greatest competitors, JT had earlier in the series broken Gary Larson's 24-game streak for most consecutive Origin appearances, and in the end proved the difference via a first half penalty goal as Queensland triumphed 12-10 and consigned the Blues to yet another heartbreaking defeat.
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