Slow and steady wins the race for Billy Slater’s Queensland in contrast to kamikaze NSW

Q ueensland’s back-to-back State of Origin series wins – their first since 2017 – thanks to a dominant 32-6 Game Two win at Suncorp in front of a delirious home crowd will only add to Maroons lore. Yet for New South Wales, it was a humiliating and self-inflicted defeat, which has taken the Blues to a crossroads at which some difficult decisions need to be made.

The tortoise and the hare is an appropriate parable for both this series and the Billy Slater-Brad Fittler coaching rivalry. For two years, Slater has been deliberate and methodical in his approach – in planning and preparation, team selection and interchange rotation, and how to deal with game plans and players who missed being picked. All contingencies have been prepared for. There has been nothing sexy about Slater’s approach but Queensland have just gone into every game confident they were ready and would not be let down by those off the field.

Fittler, by contrast, has opted for an increasingly dangerous combination of risk-taking and stubbornness throughout this series. His approach has at times been kamikaze in nature, featuring a resounding self-belief in the face of common sense and popular opinion that has led to moves few others could understand.

It was slow and steady against a desire for quick fixes and a devotion to impulse. And it led to Slater winning four of five games against Fittler.

For the first time in the last six years, Queensland were not only favoured but heavily so in the 2023 series. But the burden of expectation did not weigh them down, nor did any pressure applied by New South Wales. Slater has re-instilled the resilience that Queensland have made famous – an ability to absorb pressure and then take opportunities when they arrive.