From the time Darren Lockyer scored the try in the 2006 decider that snapped three years of Blues dominance, through to the time new coach Brad Fittler's revamped Blues held on for a series-sealing win in game two of 2018, Origin belonged to Queensland.
It belonged to Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater, apart from that 2014 series when NSW managed to break the streak of the monotonous Maroons juggernaut.
It belonged to Darren Lockyer and Cooper Cronk. To Greg Inglis, Matt Scott, Sam Thaiday, Justin Hodges, Darius Boyd, Nate Myles, Brent Tate, Petero Civoniceva, Matt Gillett, Josh Papalii and Corey Parker. Players who left a permanent mark on Origin.
It belonged to the old stagers who lived through the tough times and were around to help start the resurgence. Steve Price and Shaun Berrigan. Tonie Carroll, who once went seven straight Origins without a win. They were all there to start the era of dominance.
It belonged to the role players too. For all the superstars shining, Origin also belonged to Jacob Lillyman working hard off the bench, to Chris McQueen, the winger-turned-Origin back-rower.
To Neville Costigan, whose named doesn't get mentioned much next to Cameron Smith but who won five of his six Origin matches. To Dave Shillington, who featured in four series, all won by the Maroons.
My favourite Origin moment - Greg Inglis
From 2006 to 2017, the Maroons won 11 of 12 series and 24 of 36 games and used just 65 players, compared to 99 for NSW over the same period. The Blues triumphed just once through that stretch, in 2014, on the back of two games of defensive brilliance.
The Queensland squads of this era are regarded among the finest teams ever assembled in Australian rugby league history, the likes of which may never be seen again, stacked with future Hall of Famers and likely Immortals.
But as the team slowly evolved and refreshed itself from series to series and players drifted in and out, and as the Blues simultaneously tried and discarded players by the truckload, what was the most dominant team of the period?
Many would say 2010 was as one-sided as things got. It was the only clean sweep of the 11 series wins, with the Blues arguably at their lowest ebb and Kurt Gidley asked to captain from the bench by coach Craig Bellamy.
Justin Hodges missed that 2010 series but the backline assembled in 2009's series opener would have to rank as one of the greatest in the sport's history with Slater, Boyd, Inglis, Hodges, Israel Folau, Lockyer and Thurston in the back seven (plus Karmichael Hunt on the bench). A forward pack of Price, Smith, Civoniceva, Ash Harrison, Thaiday and Dallas Johnson with Myles, Ben Hannant and Mick Crocker on the bench rounds out one of the most imposing team sheets in Origin history.
Most of the best players of that era were still around for the 2015 iteration as they bounced back from a shock loss in 2014 to reclaim the shield with the single biggest win in Origin history, the 52-6 game three demolition at Suncorp Stadium.
The 2017 Maroons – the last ever to feature Smith, Thurston and Cronk – were arguably lucky not to go down 0-2 after two games but recovered to not only win the series but produce some astonishing numbers that are the equal or better of anything that came before.
In this statistical analysis, NRL.com Stats has crunched the numbers for all 11 series of Queensland's era of dominance to ask: which was the greatest ever?
Legendary Maroons halfback Johnathan Thurston, one of just two men alongside Cameron Smith to have played in every one of those series, admits picking a best from those 11 series wins is "very hard".
Moments that matter - Johnathan Thurston
Thurston says the relief of snapping the Blues' three-year win streak in 2006 and the elation of coming back from the dead in 2017 bring at least as much joy as crushing the Blues 3-0 at the height of their dominance or the free-wheeling point-scoring spree in the 2015 decider.
"There were so many great players through that period," Thurston tells NRL.com. "I don't know how you pick which team is the best."
While Queensland were still too good for the Blues in 2007-2009, in 2011-2013 and in 2016, for various reasons those series don't meet the dominance exerted in other years.
In '07, '09, '12 and '16 the Blues finished up with more metres than Queensland while in '07, '11 and '16 NSW had more line breaks. The Blues finished the 2007 series with more points scored (42-39).
NSW lost the 2012 and 2013 deciders by one and two points respectively before winning in 2014, which long-serving Blues hooker Robbie Farah says highlights the closeness of the two sides through that middle part of the era.
"There were a couple of years of near-misses," Farah tells NRL.com.
"Every series I played in was pretty close, there was usually a point or two in the games.
"We went so close in 2012 and lost the decider up at Suncorp by a Cooper Cronk field goal [after] Justin Hodges scored a shepherd try running behind his own player.
"2013 was similar, we lost the decider by two points at ANZ, Paul Gallen and Jarryd Hayne were missing, we had a try disallowed when I put Josh Morris over in the corner which was harsh."
The 2008 series, in which Queensland lost the opener at ANZ Stadium 18-10 before storming back 30-0 at Suncorp and 16-10 in the ANZ decider rated strongly, as did 2013 – another year in which Queensland lost the opener before a huge 26-6 game two win, but neither of those years quite hit the statistical heights of the below four examples.
Contender 1: All-time totals hit in 2017
On the face of it 2017 doesn't jump out as Queensland's best side, despite being the swansong for all-time greats in Smith and Cronk. The Blues won the series opener by a huge 28-4 margin that seemed like it may be the exclamation point on Queensland's loss of interstate dominance.
Andrew Fifita almost single-handedly destroyed the Queensland pack and the series was the first for James Tedesco as first-choice Blues fullback after debuting in game three the previous year. The Blues dominated the first half of game two as well but produced a diabolical second as a Michael Morgan flick pass to Dane Gagai and Thurston sideline conversion sent it to a decider which the Maroons won easily.
Relive the final moments of Origin II, 2017
That series saw Queensland produce some of the biggest totals of their 11 series of dominance including most total runs (508) and run metres (5053 – the first ever Queensland side to pass 5000 metres), most tackle breaks (120 – their most since the year 2000) and equal-most offloads (33, matching 2007).
With the greatest of respect, most fans would not include the likes of Jarrod Wallace, Dylan Napa, Coen Hess and Tim Glasby in a 'best Maroons side ever' conversation but this squad produced some all-time peak numbers that ended the Origin coaching career of Laurie Daley after five series in charge.
"The 2017 series was quite special," says Thurston, whose final act in Origin was nailing the tough conversion from out wide to steal game two before missing the decider through injury as the squad romped to a 22-6 win in Cameron Smith's final game.
"After getting pummelled in 2017 in the first game it probably wasn't as dominant of a series overall but I thought game three was really dominant from the Maroons. We only just got over the line in game two but in game three we put it together."
Contender 2: Greatest dominance achieved in 2015
Interestingly it was the 2015 bounce-back that produced, statistically, the biggest gulf between the two teams largely thanks to the game three devastation. Eight different players scored tries, including four out of the five starting backs and three of the four bench players.
The series produced the biggest points differential (+39) of the 11 series wins and overall that 2015 squad finished top in five of the 13 key statistical categories.
It's not just the weight of numbers but the disparity between the two states in 2015 that makes it Queensland's most dominant.
They produced 133 more runs than NSW – the next biggest differential was +61 in 2011 – as well as the most run metres, with +1390 across the three games (second best +478 in 2008). On average they ran for 462 more metres per game – the next biggest differential was 165 metres per game in 2008.
Relive the final moments of Origin I, 2015
Queensland busted more tackles than NSW just three times in those 11 series wins with the best differential coming in 2015 at +25. Their +10 line breaks was the equal-best differential of the 11 series, level with 2010.
For all their effective ball-running and attacking play that year, the Maroons' tackle success rate in 2015 of 94.4% isn't just the best of any of their 11 series wins in that period, it's the best by either state in any Origin series ever.
"I think 2015 in game three where we beat them by 50, that was one of our most dominant performances," Thurston says.
"It was one of those games where everything just came together."
Farah remembers watching that one from the coach's box alongside Laurie Daley; the hooker had been in camp all week racing the clock to return from a broken hand but his quest to play fell short.
"After we won in '14, '15 went to a decider and it was tough to miss that with a broken hand," Farah says.
"I sat through that in the coach's box with 'Loz' not being able to have any influence on the outcome that night was quite tough to handle."
Contender 3: A case for the 2010 clean sweep
There were no one-off landslide wins in 2010 but for sustained dominance and as the only clean sweep in the 11, there is a good case it was the best Queensland side.
With scores of 28, 34 and 23, the 85 total points was Queensland's most from its dominant era, with the 15 tries also a series best. Both of those figures are Queensland's second-best of any era, behind only the 88 points and 17 tries registered in 1989.
The +37 points differential across the series is second in the 11 behind 2015 (+39).
This year also had the biggest disparity in players used: a panicked NSW ran through 30 players in just three games, 11 more than the 19 Queensland used, beating the nine-player differential the prior year (30 to 21). The next biggest player differential is just five, in 2011, with no bigger differential than three in any other series over the 12 years.
Only five Blues played all three games and only three of those did so in the same position. However 15 Maroons players all three games and it would have been 17 except Cameron Smith injured his elbow in a Test match and missed game one and Petero Civoniceva broke his hand in game one causing him to miss game two.
Relive the final moments of Origin III, 2010
"That 2010 series is probably the main one that sticks out as being the most dominant," Thurston says.
"It was the only whitewash so that was probably the most dominant. We had a couple of other opportunities where we were 2-nil up but couldn't get the whitewash so 2010 definitely sticks out."
Contender 4: Starting strong in 2006
The Maroons entered the 2006 series with Origin careers on the line. The Blues had won the past three series straight, and only lost one of the previous seven series. Queensland lost the opener by a point, romped to a big win in game two off the back of Adam Mogg's stunning debut, then were set to lose the decider until Darren Lockyer scooped up that loose Brett Hodgson pass.
Relive the final moments of Origin III, 2006
So why is it a contender for Queensland's most dominant side?
As it happens, with the aid of that 30-6 win in game two, the Maroons produced some significant and consistent numbers in that 2006 series.
Their 4864 run metres was their third most in the 11, and they made seven more line breaks than NSW which was bettered only by the 10-break advantage they earned in 2010 and 2015.
They scored four more tries than the Blues which again was third best after their seven-try advantage in 2010 and six-try advantage in 2015, with their third-best points differential of the 11 series.
Across the board their figures didn't jump out in any one category but across 13 key metrics, the 2006 squad was in the top five (out of 11) in nine of those 13 categories.
So which is the best?
Crunching the numbers across all 11 series, looking at totals and averages, a clear winner emerges.
On the back of the most one-sided scoreline in Origin history, the 52-6 win to Queensland in game three of 2015 pushes that side to the top of the pile as the most dominant Origin squad in the Maroons' golden era.
The team sheet from that game is a who's who of Maroons greats. That game included eight busts and four offloads from Corey Parker, five line-break assists and three try assists from Thurston to go with his nine goals from nine shots, 175 metres and a try from Will Chambers, 152 metres and a try from Greg Inglis, and an absurd 928-metre advantage for team runs over NSW.
Also important to note is that in 2015 Queensland were leaders in plenty of statistical areas even before the game three demolition, despite at that stage being slightly on the wrong end of total points scored (NSW led 36-29 at that stage).
Looking at just games one and two, Queensland averaged more than 200 extra run metres per game, with one more line break than NSW.
Both states used 20 players in that series and astoundingly, Lillyman was the only one of Queensland's 20 not to represent Australia in a truly star-studded squad.
The dominance of possession and yardage across the series is completely unequalled in Origin and even areas where NSW still managed to finish in front almost every season through the era – such as busts and offloads – favoured the Maroons. The differential between the two teams in every single key stat – including metres, line breaks, tackle breaks and points – was at its most extreme in 2015.
It was perhaps made even more remarkable by the fact their eight-year winning run had ended the year before and the squad was now faced with questions over whether their dominance was over. It was not.
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