New South Wales rugby league team

History

Pre-Origin era (1907–1980)

Backs: Charles Hedley · Johnno Stuntz · Ed Fry · Dally Messenger · Frank Cheadle · Albert Rosenfeld · Lou D'Alpuget

Forwards: Harry Hamill · Arthur Hennessy · Bob Mable · Peter Moir · Sid Pearce · Billy Cann · Robert Graves · Herb Brackenreg

Two further matches were played against New Zealand before their tour took them to the Northern Hemisphere, with Jim Devereaux also featuring for the Blues. The visiting All Golds won all three games. However, on the return leg of their tour, almost a year later, with the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership established, the Blues won the first two matches they ever played under 13-a-side rules against New Zealand. Later in 1908 the Queensland team, whose first taste of rugby league football was also against the visiting Kiwis, traveled to Sydney for the first series of games between the two states. New South Wales won all three matches, setting a precedent for interstate dominance that would continue throughout most of the 20th century.

In 1910 New South Wales defeated the touring England team in two of their three games. After that they became the first Blues side to travel to Queensland for the annual interstate series.

In 1912 the New South Wales team first toured New Zealand. They also visited New Zealand in 1913. During the 1913 New Zealand rugby league tour of Australia New South Wales played four matches against the Kiwis, winning three of them.

The New South Wales team lost its first game against Queensland in 1922. In 2019 the Blues also toured New Zealand.

During the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand New South Wales played one match against the successful France national rugby league team, a 14-all draw.

The New South Wales team hosted 2 matches of the 1953 American All Stars tour of Australia and New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, winning 62–41 and 27–18.

In a 1954 tour match between Great Britain and New South Wales the referee left the field in disgust at the players' persistent fighting after 56 minutes so the match was abandoned.{{cite news |access-date = 25 September 2009 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091114071556/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/100-years-of-rugby-league-from-the-great-divide-to-the-super-era-1597130.html |archive-date = 14 November 2009

State of Origin era (1980–present)

New South Wales' dominance over Queensland came to an end with the introduction of 'state of origin' selection rules in the early 1980s.

During the Super League war, in 1997 New South Wales was represented by two teams: one made up of players from clubs that remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League, which competed in the 1997 State of Origin series; another made up of players from clubs that joined the rebel Super League which competed in the one-off Super League Tri-series.

Ricky Stuart, who had previously coached New South Wales in 2005, was announced as the first full-time Blues coach in November 2010. Following the 2012 series, the Blues' seventh consecutive loss, Stuart resigned the role. Stuart took a role as the Parramatta Eels head coach in 2013, citing family reasons for his move. Although the Blues continued their losing streak during Stuart's tenure, he is credited with restoring passion and pride to the NSW jersey and closing the gap between the two states. He was replaced by former Canberra, NSW and Australia teammate Laurie Daley. Daley's appointment as NSW State of Origin coach was announced in August 2012 and effective from season 2013. Daley got job over candidates including Trent Barrett, Brad Fittler and Daniel Anderson. Daley coached the Blues to a series win in 2014, their first since 2005 and over his coaching rival and long time Canberra & Australian teammate Mal Meninga. Daley ended Meninga's and Queensland's run of eight series wins with victories in Game I and Game II of the 2014 series. In 2015, New South Wales suffered its biggest origin loss losing 52–6 against Queensland in the decider. In 2016, New South Wales lost the series 2–1 but managed to win the third and final dead rubber game. In 2017, New South Wales were widely tipped to win the series as Queensland had a number of key players injured. In Game 1, New South Wales beat Queensland in convincing fashion 28–4 and in Game 2 were leading the maroons 16–6 at halftime before Queensland won the game in the final two minutes to win 18–16. In Game 3, New South Wales lost the series losing 22–6 in Brisbane. In August 2017, Daley was terminated as coach of New South Wales.

In 2018, Brad Fittler was appointed as the new coach and left out established players such as Aaron Woods, Josh Jackson, Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan. The Blues went on to win the series 2–1. In 2019, the Blues were widely tipped to win the series owing to the retirement from representative football of Queensland Origin greats Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith. However, Queensland had an upset win 18–14 over the Blues in Game 1 forcing Fittler to make seven changes to the Blues starting line-up. Though he was roundly criticised for the move,{{cite news

Ahead of the 2024 State of Origin series, Fittler stood down as head coach and was replaced by Michael Maguire. In game one of the 2024 series, New South Wales lost 38–10 in Sydney. The game was marred by the sending off of Joseph Sua'ali'i in the seventh minute. In game two, New South Wales would win 38–18 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to set up a decider in Brisbane. In game three, New South Wales would win 14–4 to claim the series and their first win in a decider at Brisbane since 2005.

On 1 October 2024, Michael Maguire stepped down as coach of the team with a search underway for a new coach.

Colours and badge

The primary colour of New South Wales Blues is sky blue, which represents the state colour of New South Wales. The secondary colour is navy blue, with additional contrasting colour of white.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

– Denotes no applicable sponsor for the listed period.

~ Major sponsor logo was featured on the jersey sleeve rather than the front from 1991–2003.

• Since 1991, major sponsors logo has also featured above the NSW Blues logo on the team shorts. These are excluded from the "shorts sponsors" list unless the major sponsor logo also features on the rear/opposite leg to the team logo.
• Since 1991, major sponsors logo has also featured above the NSW Blues logo on the jersey bust. These are excluded from the "minor sponsors" list, aside from both Wizard & Aussie Home Loans, which featured additionally on the collar from 2001–2010.

^ Indicates the sponsor was the naming-rights partner of the State of Origin series at the time, but the logo was displayed independently of the State of Origin logo.

• "Winfield State of Origin" red box logo was added to the shorts in 1989 and featured until the end of the 1992 series, becoming the first naming rights partner to feature as a part of the State of Origin logo on a team kit.
• "Winfield State of Origin" was embroidered in a plain navy font onto the jersey bust in 1991 & 1992, becoming the first naming rights partner to appear on a jersey.
• Tooheys logo appeared on the jersey from 1993 until the conclusion of the 1996 series, no State of Origin logo was included on the jersey.
• Tooheys featured as a part of the State of Origin logo from 1993 until the conclusion of the 1996 series, included on the NSW Blues shorts in each of those years.
• Tooheys featured on the NSW Blues shorts in 1997 above the team logo as their major sponsor, Coca-Cola became naming rights partner of the series and became a part of the State of Origin logo on the shorts.

Supporters

The official New South Wales rugby league team supporter group is known as "Blatchy's Blues".

Honours

State of Origin (17): 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024

Interstate Series (54): 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 197, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981

Players

Current squad

Team of the Century (1908–2007)

Before Game I of the 2008 State of Origin series, to celebrate the game's centenary that year, New South Wales named their team of the century:{{cite web |author-link = Australian Rugby League |access-date = 19 July 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120317182126/http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/files/11726_ARL_Annrep_1.pdf |archive-date = 17 March 2012

Hall of Fame

Ahead of the 2017 State of Origin series, NSW named the inaugural inductees to the NSWRL Hall of Fame, joining automatic inductees Dally Messenger and the seven Immortals who represented NSW.

Origin Greats

As part of the 25-year celebrations in 2005, New South Wales named 25 legends for each year before that.

Captains

Table last updated: 1 November 2025.

Coaches

New South Wales have had a total of thirteen different coaches at State of Origin level, eight of which have previously played for the Blues. The list also includes the known coaches from the pre-Origin era and only counts games against Queensland. Games against touring teams from New Zealand, Great Britain and France are not included. Ted Glossop, Frank Stanton and Terry Fearnley are the only coaches to have coached NSW in both State of Residence and State of Origin formats.

NSWRL Hall of Fame inductee Brad Fittler is the incumbent coach for the NSW Blues. In his first match in charge, he chose 11 players to debut.

Table last updated: 14 June 2024.

• Terry Fearnley coached NSW to two wins from two matches in 1977 under residential selection and two wins from three games in 1985 under origin selection.
• Frank Stanton coached NSW to three wins from three matches under residential selection in 1978 and 1979, six from six in all. Stanton coached NSW under origin selection in 1982 and 1984, with NSW winning one match in each six game series, the first game in 1982 and the third game in 1984.
• Ted Glossop coached NSW to two wins from two matches under residential selection in 1980 and 1981, four from four in all. Glossop coached NSW in the first two one-off Origin games in 1980 and 1981, losing both, and then in the three-match Origin series in 1983. NSW won the second game in 1983 but lost the first and third matches.

Brad Fittler Medal

First awarded in 2005, the Brad Fittler medal is the award for the New South Wales Player of the Series.

Records

Main article: New South Wales rugby league team records

New South Wales Residents rugby league team

Main article: New South Wales Residents rugby league team

New South Wales Women's rugby league team

Main article: New South Wales Women's rugby league team

References

References

1. (25 August 2017). "Five burning questions after Laurie Daley sacking: What NSW coach's axing means for Blues favourites".
2. (24 June 2018). "State of Origin 2018: New South Wales clinch just second series in 13 years".
3. (23 June 2019). "Blues crush Maroons in Perth to keep Origin series alive".
4. (10 July 2019). "State of Origin game 3 2019: NSW Blues vs Maroons, live scores, stream".
5. (18 November 2020). "State of Origin 2020 game 3: Qld Maroons beat NSW Blues – as it happened".
6. (14 July 2021). "State of Origin 2021: Who won, player ratings, scores, squads".
7. (13 July 2022). "State of Origin 2022 Game 3: Queensland Maroons punish NSW Blues to run away with series – as it happened".
8. (17 July 2024). "NSW Blues beat Queensland Maroons: State of Origin 2024 Game 3 – as it happened". The Guardian.
9. (30 September 2024). "NSWRL Release Maguire as NSW Coach".
10. (29 November 2024). "NSWRL partners with adidas in long-term deal".
11. (5 October 2017). "Blatchys Blues FAQs".
12. "Blatchys Blues".
13. "Blatchy's Blues".
14. (22 September 2017). "Blatchys Blues to take NSW to the World". National Rugby League.
15. (21 September 2017). "Blatchy's Blues exclusive bar at Origin II". National Rugby League.
16. (5 October 2017). "NSWRL Announces Hall of Fame Inductees".
17. "League names Origin greats". [[ABC Sport]].
18. (24 June 2020). "Fittler 'grateful' for new Blues deal".
19. (29 May 2018). "Brave new era? Blues put faith in fresh faces to break Maroons' Origin stranglehold". ABC News.