Maroons legend Wally Lewis owned the State of Origin arena in his playing days and it seems his level of excitement for big moments hasn’t changed now that he’s a commentator instead of the team’s biggest star.
A late try to Cameron Munster sealed an impressive 26-18 win for Billy Slater’s men and Lewis was on cloud nine. Speaking to TV colleague Alison Ariotti, Lewis hailed the never-say-die attitude displayed by the stars who have followed in his footsteps.
The ‘King’ was working for Channel 9 on Wednesday night, and footage has emerged of Queensland’s favourite son getting very animated at Adelaide Oval. So much so Lewis slammed his head into a wall as celebrations went into overdrive.
‘I was excited, Queensland had just pulled off a stunning comeback to snatch the result,’ he said. ‘I was feeling pretty good about it and didn’t realise a camera was on me. ‘I hit my head on the side of the roof at one stage and I was the only one celebrating, the other commentators were cheering on the Blues.’
But as they have done to NSW fans for many years, Queensland broke their hearts to take the ascendency ahead of game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21.
Lewis added the playing group ‘knew they had achieved something special’ after the Blues took an 18-16 lead with just 12 minutes left. And when prop Tom Flegler was sin-binned moments later, a win for the Maroons looked near impossible.
Under pressure Blues coach Brad Fittler will be tempted to make a number of team changes, with Jarome Luai, Tom Trbojevic and Hudson Young likely casualties. If Queensland win on home soil, Fittler will have likely coached his final game for NSW.
