For 40 years, the finest players Queensland and NSW have squared off in a battle for State of Origin supremacy.
From Immortals Beetson, Lewis, Meninga and Johns to legends like Smith, Slater, Fittler and Daley, the roll call of Origin greats reads like a who's who of rugby league.
In 40 Years of State of Origin, former Rugby League Week editor and NRL.com senior journalist Martin Lenehan unlocks the secret of what makes Origin so special and gets the inside story from the men who made the magic happen.
In this extract from 40 Years of State of Origin, we turn the clock back to 2001, when one of Queensland's favourite sons Allan Langer made a triumphant return from England to write another iconic chapter in the Origin story.
Alfie answers the Supercoach's SOS
Almost 19 years have passed since the little bloke with the big secret climbed out of a cab at the Gabba and greeted his fellow Maroons with a trademark cheeky grin but Petero Civoniceva remembers it like it was yesterday.
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It was late June, 2001, and the supercoach Wayne Bennett had hatched a plan to bring one of Queensland's favourite sons back from England for a series decider he hoped would exorcise the demons of a 3-0 sweep in 2000.
Never mind the fact the messiah was four weeks shy of his 35th birthday and hadn't played Origin for 1107 days.
Never mind the fact he had walked away from the NRL just eight games into the 1999 season saying he had lost his hunger.
Nope, none of that mattered to Civoniceva and his mates when the great Allan Langer arrived to answer King Wayne's SOS.
"For us young blokes it was an amazing feeling knowing that a Queensland icon had come back from the UK and was going to put that jersey on one last time," said Petero, who had debuted in Game One of the series.
"As a group we had idolised him as kids growing up and we were going to get the chance to play alongside him.
"There's something about blokes like Alf and also Artie Beetson back in 1980 ... they build confidence among their team-mates because of who they are and what they have done and they have a huge aura because of what they stand for in the game.
"Alf really set the tone for the week for us. It was an amazing week of preparation and knowing we had Alf beside us built our confidence and made us believe we could do it."
And do it they did, riding the emotion of Langer's return to wallop the Blues 40-14 and wrap up the series.
Having taken a punt on 10 debutants on Game One and an old stager from Super League in the decider, Bennett had once again proved himself the master, and the pain of a 56-16 defeat a year earlier had been well and truly erased.
That 40-point NSW win in 2000 had also featured Bryan Fletcher’s now infamous 'hand grenade' post-try celebration which would serve as motivation for Queensland sides for years to come.
"Coming into the side in 2001 we felt the rage and anger of blokes like Choppy Close and Tosser Turner about that celebration," Civoniceva recalls.
"The resentment was felt right across the state and we knew we had to avenge that."
