‘No talent required’: The secret to Queensland’s Origin I victory
Ask someone to pinpoint Billy Slater’s finest moment in the State of Origin arena and you’ll usually get the same answer: that audacious chip and chase during his second game for Queensland in 2004.
But for Michael Hagan, the former Maroons mentor who handed Slater his representative debut, it’s not the highlight reel play that stands out. It’s the ones you didn’t see.
Former Blues coach Laurie Daley calls them NTR plays - No Talent Required - because “it hits the point straight away, you don’t need any talent, it’s all effort”.
Daley, who steered the Blues to a shock series victory in 2014, pinched the acronym from former Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika, who he brought into camp during his time as NSW coach. Call them NTR plays, call them the one percenters - they are the effort areas, performed with energy.
They are moments that often go unseen by commentators and fans alike, but coaches believe they’re as important as a break or a scrambling tackle in the last line of defence.
Hagan could pick off countless examples from Wednesday’s Origin series opener. That comes as little surprise when you consider Slater is now at the helm as Queensland coach.
Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans and Queensland head coach Billy Slater.Credit:Getty Images
“[Slater] has got a better understanding of it in the modern game than anybody, those things you’ve got to keep doing and turning up for,” Hagan said.
“Billy Slater built his career on helping Queensland in the back five with kick reception, and defensively getting the line organised. When the kick goes in the air, it’s all those other little effort areas of running blokes off the ball, getting behind the ball, letting blokes know what’s going on.
“Billy was outstanding in that area in his career, he would have been hammering that all week on their goal-line, on their kick receptions. It’s not something that just happens, it’s got to be coached and reinforced.
“They’re not talent or skill things, they’re just the desire and the effort things. Val Holmes chasing back that kick and diving on a loose ball, Val’s got exceptional speed and game awareness but it’s a huge effort in the game at that time to run back and do that for the team.
“Look at Reuben Cotter. I’m doing a bit of work with [North Queensland coach] Todd Payten at the moment, and he looks at me like ‘he doesn’t seem to fatigue, he can keep getting off the line, he can keep shutting the gate’.
“They’re all things know we should do, but it’s very hard to keep doing them when you’re having to defend for three or four sets on your line in a row, isn’t it? A little bit of mental toughness, you’ve got to have it in that situation.”
So what are the plays coaches look for when they break down game footage?
It’s Holmes coming from the wing to snatch a James Tedesco grubber away from Nathan Cleary’s grasp in the 70th minute to deny the Blues a try under the posts.
It’s making double efforts in defence, like Daly Cherry-Evans. Beaten once, the Maroons halfback scrambled back into the line in time to clean up a kick as the Blues went hunting for an equaliser.
It’s being a genuine option in support or on a lead line. Coaches know it can be easy for a player to go through the motions if they know they’ve got a player swooping out the back ready to launch an attacking raid.
It’s finding your feet at marker before the play-the-ball. It’s getting off the line and putting pressure on the kicker like Queensland’s pack did to battered Blues halfback Nathan Cleary, who finished the game looking like he’d gone 12 rounds with Devin Haney such was the swelling above his eye.
“The perfect example, look at a bloke like Reuben Cotter. He’s not as gifted as Cam Murray or Isaah Yeo, but what he brings is all those things you talk about,” Daley said.
Reuben Cotter is a perfect example of a player who nails his role.Credit:Getty Images
“For a team to be effective, you need blokes like that. You’ve got to have everyone pulling their weight, you just can’t have people who are not prepared to do that.
“Granted, you need to have your Munsters and players like that, but it makes it so much easier for them if those other players are doing their role. There’s things that are non-negotiable that you have to bring to a footy team.
“How do they support other players, how quickly do they get in position in transition? By that I mean when someone kicks the ball downfield. Is someone slow to get behind the ball? How fast do they get back there to have a bit of shape?
If they have a bit of shape, they pull a bit of width. Obviously it helps because their defence has to spread out rather than compressing and jamming into you and putting you under pressure.
“They’re little things you speak to the guys about and say, ’You’ve just to to bring this to the table, these are just non-negotiable.”
Blues captain James Tedesco, who always knew this year would be vastly different to the last in which NSW racked up a 76-6 scoreline across the first two games, says winning a series comes down to doing “all those little things right that no one sees”.
Queensland got the better of those moments in game one.
Now Slater, who is giving NSW fans nightmares about the lost decade, now heads to Perth with a chance to sew up the series in his first stint as Queensland coach. He says of these game-defining plays: “They’re little moments but they’re big moments”.
“There’s a lot of them in the game, there might be 100, 200 in the game, but they’re all important. You don’t do one and the game gets away from you,” Slater said.
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