So Daly Cherry-Evans is the new undisputed king of Queensland.
Sitting in the same throne once the domain of King Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga, Gorden Tallis, Darren Lockyer and
Cameron Smith.
Of all the great yarns in Queensland State of Origin folklore, there’s still a couple of very crucial chapters missing
from the Cherry-Evans fairytale comeback.
Namely, steering the Maroons to glory.
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Don’t get me wrong, it’s a remarkable resurrection from being repeatedly booed at Suncorp Stadium.
This time last year there were champion Origin players prepared to tell you Cherry-Evans Queensland papers had been stamped “never again”.
It prompted Maroons coach Kevin Walters to label it “hogwash” at the time.
But we’re still a fair way off Alfie Langer flying 16,500km from Warrington to Brisbane to seal the Origin series in 2001.
Check Cherry-Evans’ Origin record in his eight appearances for Queensland and the job ahead of him all of a sudden takes on an entirely different context.
DCE has started three games in the halves for Queensland and played 70 minutes of Origin I when Cooper Cronk broke his arm back in 2014.
Of those four matches, his sole victory is the dead-rubber at Suncorp Stadium last year.
In 2014, the Blues won the opening game of the series at Suncorp Stadium before ending Queensland’s run of eight series straight when Cherry-Evans was in the halves in Game II at ANZ Stadium.
So aside from the Gold Coast Titans debacle, we can see why DCE was loathed north of the border for so long.
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He was the new playmaker at the helm when the Maroons decade of dominance hit a speed bump.
DCE was then dropped back to the bench for game III of 2014 to accommodate the return of Cronk, with the Maroons avoiding a series clean-sweep at Suncorp Stadium.
The following year in 2015, DCE was selected in the halves for game II when Cronk was again injured.
The result? Same as before. The Maroons lost the game, this time at the MCG.
This was when Queensland coach Mal Meninga made the call to axe Cherry-Evans for game three, beginning a four-year exile for the Manly Sea Eagles halfback.
That ended for the game III dead-rubber of last year’s series when Ben Hunt was moved to hooker and DCE was re-admitted into the Maroons set-up.
For Cherry-Evans to truly complete this remarkable comeback story, the Maroons no.7 has one crucial chapter still missing.
The State of Origin shield must be back at QRL headquarters in Brisbane at the end of this series.
Then the entire state of Queensland will love him forever.
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