By Wayne Heming

Queensland legend Wally Lewis is confident Queensland’s super coaches will head off any complacency cracks before the Maroons attempt to secure back-to-back State of Origin series wins at Suncorp Stadium this month.

“Not with the coaching staff they’ve got,” declared Lewis when asked about the risk of the Queensland players getting too comfortable with game two of the series at Suncorp Stadium where they have an extremely good record over the past 15 years.

Queensland grabbed a crucial 1-0 series lead in Adelaide last month and have won 12 of their last 15 games played at Suncorp Stadium.

Lewis, more than any other player, knows the value of a packed Lang Park crowd and the influence they can have on a close game.

His grandparents on both sides of the family lived just a torpedo kick away from Lang Park.

When he was a young boy his parents would visit them and he’d take off to Lang Park, jump the fence and spend a lot of time running around on the ground.

It was often said Lewis knew every blade of grass on Lang Park.

“We used to visit our grandparents every fortnight and us kids would take off and jump the fence and play on the field.

“I often bragged that nobody knew Lang Park or spent more time on the field than I did,” he laughed.

The Lang Park faithful made sure the man they dubbed “The King and Emperor of Lang Park, was sent out a winner in his last Origin appearance in June 1991.

Queensland was clinging to a 14-12 lead and under assault from the Blues in the series-deciding third game when the ground announcer informed the 33,000-strong crowd 10 minutes from full-time that it was Lewis’s last game for the Maroons.

The crowd responded wildly as Lewis knew they would and virtually lifted an exhausted Queensland to a memorable victory.

“It was exactly what we needed because we were in a real battle but again the crowd managed to get us home,” he said.

“Every time we played there; the crowd had a significant impact because you didn’t want to let them down and you felt you had to repay their loyalty.”

Lewis has been on both sides of the Origin fence, firstly as a champion player throughout the 1980s and later as a coach during the early 1990s.

He believes Queensland was very fortunate Billy Slater came along when he did last year and took the job with no coaching experience.

“Not only has been an instant success but by recruiting Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston as his assistants, along with Josh Hannay, he has assembled an amazing coaching crew that has every base covered.

“It doesn’t get much better than that.”

“Watching Cameron Smith talk to the players in the sheds at halftime in Adelaide was very interesting.

“Obviously they have a great working relationship from their days at Melbourne Storm and their time together playing for Queensland.”

Lewis, who won Origin’s man-of-the-match a record eight times, warned the Blues would come after Queensland very hard at Suncorp Stadium in a desperate bid to save the series with the third game set down for Sydney next month.

“They’ll be very disappointed with their effort in Adelaide and Billy will want the Maroons to play even better than they did in game one.

Queensland was reduced to 12 men for much of the last 10 minutes after forward Tom Flegler was sin-binned but came from 18-16 down to win the clash 26-18.

Slater knows there is still improvement in his side, even allowing for injuries that have forced him to find replacements for forwards Tom Gilbert (shoulder) and Jai Arrow (ankle) for Origin II.

“The great thing about this current Queensland side is that a lot of the blokes are still young, they haven’t been there before, they’re still very hungry,” Lewis told FOGs.

“They haven’t played 10 or 20 games so they will not have the attitude of; we’ve still got game three if we lose.”

“Also, a lot of the younger players in the team would have grown up idolising and watching these blokes (Slater, Smith and Thurston) play for Queensland.

“It wasn’t all that long ago those players would have been looking up to them in awe as they produced some of the best performances in a Queensland jumper during a golden era of eight straight series’ wins.

“The respect they command will always be there.”

Lewis said it was similar when he played his first Origin game in 1980 alongside fellow immortal Arthur Beetson as a 20-year-old.

“I remember the very first State of Origin training run, all of us young players, Colin Scott, Kerry Boustead, Mal Meninga, Choppy (Chris Close), and myself included, were all in awe of this guy, just being in his company,” said Lewis.

“And I remember as a kid sitting with my Dad, Jimmy, and him telling me to watch this big guy, Arthur Beetson play.

“He would have three or four players hanging off him but he would still slip an off-load away.”

Queensland received a lot of praise after coming from behind to win in Adelaide but Slater will make sure his players don’t believe everything they read as he knows they didn’t play their best football on the night.

He knows it is going to take a much better effort for Queensland to win at Suncorp Stadium against a NSW side with its backs to the wall and with coach Brad Fittler facing some tough selection calls, including who will replace star Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary (hamstring).

The teams for Origin II will be named after the completion of round 15 which because of a public holiday will go through until Monday when the Bulldogs host Parramatta at Accor Stadium.