Best rugby league players to never appear in State of Origin, including Test reps
Andrew Walker
Hailing from Nowra, Andrew Walker was one of the most talented players to ever lace a boot. After leaving rural NSW to play rugby union for Randwick in 1991, Walker switched codes to play for St George, but he returned to the south coast in 1994 because of problems adapting to city life. He was enticed back to Sydney to play for the Roosters under the guidance of coach Phil Gould a year later. Gould, who coached Walker at the Roosters, said on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast that Walker was the best player to never feature in State of Origin. "He was such an individual player. He wasn't someone that we loaded up with a lot of game plans and strategies and shapes and plays," Gould said. "I'd get our players to throw the ball to him in a certain time, in a certain way and he would just weave his own magic with it. He had a brilliant kicking game and he was a tough kid, too. He was one of my all-time favourites, Andrew Walker ... on game day he provided an x-factor. He did some extraordinary things ... a shame that he didn't play Origin." The Roosters held him in such high regard that he actually kept Brad Fittler out of his favoured No.6 jersey when 'Freddy' moved to the Roosters, forcing him to play at lock. Walker represented both the Kangaroos and Wallabies, however a sky-blue jumper never came his way. In the meantime, Fittler was selected at five-eighth for NSW while playing for the Tricolours, along with the likes of Laurie Daley, Jim Dymock and Trent Barrett. In 1996, Walker played in one match for the Kangaroos against a Papua New Guinea side off the bench. Walker was known as the first dual international to switch codes from league to union, doing so two years before highly fancied recruits Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers. He returned to league in 2004 with Manly and still had a knack of making defenders look second-rate.
Russell Richardson
Like so many players, Russell Richardson promised so much but in the end injury cruelled his progression through the highest levels of rugby league. After making his debut for Cronulla with two appearances in 1996, Richardson made an impression the next season as a member of Cronulla's losing 1997 Super League grand final side. He scored his side's only try in the decider against the Broncos and was subsequently called up for the three-match Super League Test series against Great Britain, playing twice off the bench. He played again for the Kangaroos in 1999, scoring a try in the 1999 Tri-Nations opener, before a knee problem stopped him in his tracks. Bob Fulton was a fan of Richardson, yet the Sharks centre couldn't crack the Blues team at that time, with Terry Hill and Andrew Ettingshausen occupying the starting spots in the first year of the amalgamated competition after the Super League split. Richardson's return from injury wasn't overly impressive with the Sharks letting him go to be Souths' first major signing for the club's return to the NRL in 2002. Richardson could not return to form with the Rabbitohs and, after a season with the Knights, he retired at just 27.
Ben Barba
Ben Barba never pulled on a Queensland State of Origin jumper despite the fact one of the greatest individual seasons of the NRL era belongs to him. The lightning-quick, silky-skilled fullback was astronomical for Canterbury in 2012, running in 22 tries and playing a hand in many more as he spearheaded the Bulldogs to the grand final. Barba's glittering 2012 campaign earned him the Dally M Medal. In the eyes of many experts and pundits, his season was on par with Jarryd Hayne's of 2009. Despite his exceptional season his 2012 Origin dreams were spoiled by Billy Slater, who wore the Maroons No.1 jumper in the first two games, and Greg Inglis, who replaced an injured Slater at fullback for Origin III. Barba exited the Bulldogs for the Broncos in ugly style following the 2013 season, when Canterbury released him from the final two years of his contract so he could be closer to family in Brisbane. But Barba spent just the 2014 season with the Broncos and was back in Sydney at the end of it, having signed with the Sharks. While it didn't rival his 2012 campaign, the lethal No.1 had another sparkling season in 2016, scoring 16 tries and having a hand in plenty of others as Cronulla marched to their first-ever premiership. Despite Barba's spectacular 2016 season, he lost out to Darius Boyd in the Maroons fullback race for all three games. It was in the wake of Barba's grand final triumph with the Sharks that his dazzling career copped its first major blow. He tested positive to cocaine four days after Cronulla's grand final win over Melbourne and was axed immediately, leaving his NRL career in tatters. After two years in the Super League Barba tried to revive his NRL career, signing a one-year deal with the Cowboys for 2019. But his NRL career was then genuinely destroyed when a domestic violence incident against his then-partner led to the league tearing up his contract. Barba played 168 NRL matches and five with the Indigenous All Stars.
Alex Johnston
The prolific Alex Johnston has rocketed up the all-time try-scoring leaderboard in his 160 matches with South Sydney and could even be on a trajectory to challenge Ken Irvine's record. The 26-year-old has 128 tries to his name and Irvine's long-standing record is 212. But Johnston's incredible try-scoring feats have done little to attract the attention of NSW State of Origin selectors. While the brilliant finisher is leading this season's try-scoring race with 22, he's been beaten to the Blues' 2021 wing spots by Josh Addo-Carr and Brian To'o. In years gone by, the likes of Brett Morris, Jarryd Hayne and Daniel Tupou have snapped up the wing positions ahead of Johnston. Remarkably, the unheralded Rabbitoh is among the 17 men who've donned a Kangaroos jumper but not an Origin jersey, having played one Test for Australia in 2015. Johnston has also represented Papua New Guinea twice and the Indigenous All Stars on three occasions.
Reni Maitua
Reni Maitua was another of those players who represented Australia but didn't play State of Origin, despite being eligible for NSW. Maitua played one Test for the Kangaroos in 2006, while he also represented Samoa on three occasions. The big-framed, crafty back-rower, centre and five-eighth played 174 games in two stints with the Bulldogs as well as spending time with the Sharks and Eels. He won a premiership with Canterbury in his debut 2004 season and was at his peak in 2006 and 2007. However, Luke O'Donnell and Bulldogs teammate Andrew Ryan covered lock for NSW in the 2006 series, before Ryan and Paul Gallen kept him out of the No.13 jumper in 2007. Mark Gasnier, Matt Cooper and Timana Tahu beat him to a spot in the centres in 2006, while Cooper, Jamie Lyon and Matt King won the selection battles in 2007. And although Maitua sometimes played at five-eighth in the NRL, he wasn't ever genuinely considered for a halves spot in Origin. Like several NRL players, Maitua had enormous talent but had a career riddled with off-field controversy. He was sacked by the Bulldogs in 2008 on the back of a string of incidents, including a drunken brawl, before then copping a two-year suspension from the NRL for testing positive to banned performance-enhancing drug Clenbuterol. Maitua then spent three seasons with Parramatta, before receiving a second shot with Canterbury in 2014 and retiring at the end of the season.
Alan Tongue
Alan Tongue was a lock and hooker of remarkable reliability and toughness during his 220 games with the Raiders, many of which he captained. The Tamworth redhead made his Canberra debut in Round Seven of season 2000 and developed a reputation as a tackling machine. In 2006 he broke the record for most tackles in a regular season, registering 1087. Nathan Hindmarsh ran second that year with 911. Tongue had a career-best year in 2008, winning the Dally M captain and lock of the year awards. But Danny Buderus had the NSW State of Origin No.9 jumper locked up for all three games of the 2008 series, and Ryan Hoffman, Willie Mason, Paul Gallen and Craig Fitzgibbon beat him to back-row selection. In other years, the likes of Anthony Watmough, Ben Creagh and Luke O'Donnell kept him out of the Blues side. While a NSW jersey eluded him, Tongue's impressive career did earn two representative call-ups; he made an appearance for the Prime Minister's XI in 2008 and played for NSW Country in 2009. One of the greatest crowd signs of all time featured Tongue, with a sign at Canberra Stadium for his 200th game reading: "Who needs a big Willie when you have a great Tongue". Tongue retired at the end of the 2011 season.
Shannon Boyd
Shannon Boyd stunned the rugby league world when he retired at the age of just 27, frustrated by injuries and keen to return to his family farm in Cowra. But the 122-kilogram brick wall, who debuted in the opening round of the 2014 season, was one of the most destructive front-rowers in the competition during his 125-game career with the Raiders and Titans. He even played four Tests with Australia in 2016. Boyd and Junior Paulo combined as a lethal front-row unit for Canberra as the men in green won their last 10 games of the 2016 regular season and powered through to a preliminary final berth. But Aaron Woods, James Tamou and Paul Gallen locked up the Blues State of Origin front-row spots in 2016, while Andrew Fifita and David Klemmer were among the other props who kept him out of the NSW side throughout the rest of his career. Boyd departed the Raiders after the 2018 season to join the Titans, but he managed just 14 games with Gold Coast before calling time on his career during the 2020 season.
Jarrod Croker
Jarrod Croker could eventually finish his NRL career as the highest-ever points-scorer. To think that he might hold that record but not have a State of Origin appearance to his name is astounding. Croker has tallied 2204 career points in 286 games since debuting with Canberra in Round Two of the 2009 season, placing him fourth on the all-time leaderboard, behind Cameron Smith (2786), Hazem El Masri (2418) and Johnathan Thurston (2222). Croker moved past Andrew Johns' tally of 2176 in Round Five of this season. Among the 30-year-old's 2204 career points are 133 tries and hundreds of dead-eye kicks from the tee. But despite the exceptional points-scoring feats of the Raiders centre, the likes of Michael Jennings and Josh Dugan have earned NSW call-ups ahead of him. During Canberra's stellar 2019 campaign, which culminated in a grand final appearance, Croker was beaten to the Blues' centre positions by Latrell Mitchell, Josh Morris, Tom Trbojevic and Raiders teammate Jack Wighton. Croker's only representative appearances have come with the NRL All Stars (three) and NSW Country (two).
John Sutton
There was only one Origin-eligible man who played as many first-grade Australian rugby league games as John Sutton without breaking through for the Blues or Maroons. That was Chris Heighington. Sutton played 336 NRL games in a career spanning 2004-2019. The big-framed utility, who played in the back row and at five-eighth, was a consistent performer through South Sydney's dark days, which in Sutton's time resulted in wooden spoons in 2004 and 2006, and he captained the Rabbitohs to the 2014 premiership. He was the ideal Rabbitoh to skipper South Sydney to their first title since 1971. Yet a Blues jumper always eluded him. Sutton was the subject of an extraordinary selection bungle ahead of Game One of the 2013 series. Kurt Gidley was injured so Sutton and Canterbury five-eighth Josh Reynolds were hauled into the NSW squad to fight for the Blues bench utility spot. On the day of selection, the NSWRL tweeted that Sutton had beaten Reynolds to a Blues jumper and, just moments later, it was reported on the Rabbitohs website. Calls and texts began to flood in congratulating Sutton on finally realising his NSW Origin dream. There was just one problem. Moments earlier coach Laurie Daley had walked into the physio room to tell Sutton he'd missed out, leaving him startled when people began congratulating him. It turned out that the NSWRL had posted an incorrect tweet. Sutton's brush with the Blues was so fleeting that he hadn't unpacked his kit from the box - and he gave it to Rabbitohs teammate Sam Burgess when he did. Over the remainder of his long career Sutton was beaten to a place in the NSW side by the likes of Greg Bird, Terry Campese, James Maloney and Todd Carney.
Ewan McGrady
Old-school rugby league types remember this freak of a talent. In the 1991 season, indigenous star Ewan McGrady was deemed the best player in the NSWRL competition, winning the Rothmans Medal, the day's Dally M equivalent. He got his chance in the top grade when Kevin Moore broke his arm and became a regular first-grade player for the rest of the season. The following year he absolutely dominated and played every game on the way to winning the game's highest individual honour, while he even captained the Bulldogs on four occasions. McGrady also finished as the club's top try-scorer in 1990 (13 tries) and 1991 (14) and was named Rugby League Week's player of the year. However, his impact on the Bulldogs didn't sway Blues selectors for the 1991 State of Origin series, with NSW selecting fellow indigenous star Cliff Lyons at five-eighth for the first two games, before Brad Fittler took over for the last match. McGrady was reluctant to accept the game's highest individual accolade, the Rothmans Medal, and did not want to attend the presentation. He kept organisers of the event waiting for more than an hour, before arriving at Sydney's Hilton Hotel with a police escort to accept the award. His acceptance speech was classic and only eight seconds. "I'd just like to thank Rothmans and the Canterbury-Bankstown rugby league club for a great year. Thanks a lot," McGrady said. The livewire left Canterbury at the end of the 1993 season and joined Western Suburbs for 1994. He played four games for the Magpies and was never seen in first-grade again.
