IF it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The band is coming back together again with Queensland coach Billy Slater outlining plans for his trio of assistants Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Josh Hannay to return for the Maroons’ Origin title defence next year.
While Slater was the figurehead in Queensland’s stunning fightback to bring down the Blues in 2022, the rookie Origin coach is the first to pay tribute to the role of Hannay, Smith and Thurston in reclaiming the interstate shield.
They were dubbed Queensland’s coaching ‘Dream Team’.
There was Smith, the former Queensland skipper who remains the most-capped player in Origin history with a remarkable 42 appearances.
There was Thurston, the 37-game Maroons legend who provided the playmaking class during Queensland’s golden decade of dominance between 2006-16.
And there was Hannay, the former Queensland Origin centre whose status as one of the code’s most promising assistant coaches gave the Maroons contemporary knowledge of NRL systems.
The Awesome Foursome had immediate success and Slater is determined to keep the status quo in a coup for Queensland as they chase back-to-back Origin crowns in 2023.
“We want to improve and progress on what we did this year and those guys (Smith, Thurston and Hannay) were critical to what we did,” Slater said.
“I haven’t had a conversation with all of them as yet, I felt it was necessary after the series to go back and focus on their other roles, whether it’s NRL club coaching or media commitments.
“It’s important to have time away from the game, too, post-season. But when I do get in touch again, I would like to think we will have a relatively similar set up to this year.”
Smith’s mentoring for hookers Harry Grant and Ben Hunt proved invaluable, with the duo playing key roles in the 2-1 series victory, headlined by Hunt, who scored the match-sealing try in the Suncorp decider.
Hannay’s tactical brain was invaluable, while Thurston was in the thick of the action, wearing a headset on the sidelines and relaying key game-plan information from Slater to the players during the heat of battle.
Thurston lauded Slater for putting together the coaching formula that helped the Maroons hit back from last year’’a series collapse.
“Billy was incredible,Thurston said in the wake of Queensland’s win in Game Three. “He instilled belief in the players and he put the right people around them.
“To be on the sidelines, I felt like I was playing again and it stirs up that passion inside you.
“The players were outstanding, they bought into our messages and what it meant to play for Queensland.
“It was a great series and whatever Billy needs from me, I’ll be there to help in any way.”
Smith and Slater had no real coaching experience coming into this Origin series.
But after winning at every level for Melbourne, Queensland and Australia, including premiership rings at the Storm, there was never any doubt Slater and Smith had the knowledge to deliver in the Origin arena.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy often described Smith and Slater as his on-field coaches, so it was no surprise to see the latter relish his role as head coach of the Queensland Maroons.
“Origin coaching can be difficult, but the one thing I had was great people around me and the support I had helped with the experience,”Slater said.
“When things were going good and not so good, I went back to controlling what you can control and not focusing on the external noise.
“Our job as a coaching staff was to have the players play their best football for 80 minutes and for the majority of the series we did that.
“There is always learning, you make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough.
“I knew what I was getting myself into with coaching, but guys like Josh, Cam and ‘JT’ certainly made my job easier.”