Rugby league immortal and Queensland icon Wally Lewis has selected his greatest ever Origin squad and it does not make for pretty ready for those in Cockroach territory.

While 'The King' wasn't completely willing to snub each and every New South Welshman who has ever pulled on a Blues jersey, Lewis only deemed one worth of selection - bearded Eel, Eric 'Guru' Grothe.

From fullback to the front-row, the 62-year-old's XIII is littered with legends from the Sunshine State, however, no room could be found for the likes of Sterling, Johns, Harrigan, Kenny and Price.

Although controversial with his choices, Lewis was willing to back his selections when speaking on the Unfiltered Podcast.

"Thurston is something," Lewis said of his halves selections.

"I'd have to put him in brackets with Peter Sterling. But if it's got to go to just one, I'd give it to 'JT'.

"Picking 'Fatty' [Paul Vautin] will amaze a lot of people and 'Fatty' used to say "I'm a Neville" but if there's one bloke I loved having in my team it was 'Fatty."

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Lewis also went on to explain why his forward pack was comprised solely of Queenslanders.

"Gorden Tallis is one of those blokes that, he could play against his mother or any of his family and he'd bash them from pillar to post …. And wait until full time to see if they were OK," he continued.

"Greg Dowling, I can honestly say he did not receive anywhere near the credit he should of in State of Origin.

"Particularly when I knew I was about to get a little bit of a touch-up from the big, aggressive NSW forwards, I'd say to 'GD', 'Get rid of these blokes, make sure they're not annoying me. If they are I'll be blaming you'."

While Origin I is still more than four months away, 'The King's calls are sure to have stir up plenty of parochialism.

The series opener is set to kick-off on Wednesday, June 8 at Stadium Australia in Sydney, and given his decision to blank the best from New South Wales, if Lewis is in attendance, he can expect a frostier reception than usual.

 

2 COMMENTS

  2. You’d have to wonder how Alf missed a spot and the King couldn’t pick himself I suppose. To be fair GI certainly gets a jersey but Geno shouldn’t be denied either. Get rid of Guru, move Slater to his wing, Locky to FB, give Alf 7 and JT 6. Sorry Fatty but you get the coaching gig over the skinny Stupid League mercenary, while Geno gets your spot, GI gets his and the world aligns 🙂 … a pretty good cheer squad of the two Sams (Backo and Thaiday), Bella, Rod Morris, the Walters and Lindner led by the Queenslanderrrrrr!

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