Source : ABC NEWS
There have been plenty of bolters in State of Origin’s 45-year history, but in some respects newly minted Queensland centre Robert Toia already stands alone.
With just 10 NRL games under his belt as he prepares for his Maroon debut on Wednesday night, you have to dig deep into the annals of Origin history to find anything like the 20-year old Rooster.
Since the Broncos entered the NSWRL in 1988 and Queensland no longer selected players straight from the Brisbane premiership, only two players have made their first grade and Origin debuts in the same year.
Both of them — Willie Carne in 1990 (six games) and Ben Ikin in 1995 (four games) — came off the bench when they became the two-least experienced Origin players of all time. It was the same for New South Wales forward Payne Haas in 2019 (10 games) when he set the NRL-era record.
When Toia hits the Lang Park turf he will break Jim Leis’s record as the least-experienced starting player in Origin history.
It’s currently shared by Trent Barrett, who debuted at five-eighth for the Blues in the third game of the 1997 series when there were no Super League players selected, and Jim Leis, who played lock for New South Wales in the first ever Origin match back in 1980.
Toia will become the first player in 30 years to make his club and Origin debuts in the same season. (Getty Images: Hannah Peters )
It’s a measure of how dramatic Toia’s ascension really is that we must look to split competitions and the very dawn of these times for anything similar.
An Origin debut under those circumstances would take something exceptional no matter what, let alone with Toia likely being asked to handle Latrell Mitchell and the rest of the New South Wales left edge.
According to Brent Tate, who currently shares the record for fewest matches before a Queensland debut in the NRL era — another record Toia will break in Origin I — the challenge shouldn’t intimidate the young Rooster but inspire him.
“I heard Billy (Slater) say during the week that Queensland chooses you and that’s a great analogy,” Tate said.
“He’s in the team for a reason. Billy and the state believe in him and he’s got a huge task, marking Latrell, but it’s not something he should be worried or afraid of — he should be up for the challenge in his own mind, ‘how is Latrell going to contain me?’
“That’s the aggressive mindset you have to play with, you have to play tough.
“Enjoy every minute of it but know that when Wednesday comes around you have to be big, you have to be aggressive, you have to play your best game of footy.”
Brent Tate (left) was just 14 games into his NRL career when he first played for Queensland. (AAP Photos: Gillian Ballard )
Tate had played just 14 NRL matches when he was picked for the 2002 decider, playing the final 25 minutes at centre as Queensland secured a draw to retain the shield.
He says now that he was too young to truly grasp what was happening, which means he was too young to be afraid and, like Toia, initially thought the call telling him he’d be a maroon was a gee up from a teammate.
“If you’ve ever been in a footy club you know it’s a tough school, you wouldn’t put it past the boys doing that. But when you’ve played a handful of games it can be surreal, so you do wonder. It’s a call you never forget,” Tate said.
“My whole first week was all about excitement, I wasn’t nervous at all. It wasn’t until I ran out there that I realised the enormity of it all and it was an out-of-body experience.
“I took my position and looked down to see I was wearing the maroon kit, I looked up and saw the blue jerseys and that’s when it hit me — holy shit, I’m playing State of Origin football.
“It happens so fast you’re almost too naïve to understand the enormity of it. You ride the wave of emotion and enjoy every second of it, that’s how it was for me.”
To some, Toia has seemed like an Origin prospect for some time, even accounting for this very early start.
Roosters teammate Connor Watson, who will come off the bench for New South Wales on Wednesday, remembers when Toia first showed up at the Tricolours as a 17-year old to train with the top squad.
“He was setting up and scoring tries against the first-grade squad, so straight away you could tell he was going to be a freak,” Watson said.
“He probably didn’t think getting picked in Origin would happen this quickly for him but you could always see the talent, he always felt like he would be an Origin player.
“To do it after 10 games, it shows how special a talent he is.”
Toia’s 10 games with the Roosters have been impressive while also being sprinkled with moments of inexperience you’d expect from any player just beginning his time in first grade.
Two weeks ago, Toia scored a powerful double against the Dolphins at Magic Round and set a new season high for run metres. It showed the best of him — his speed, his power and his strength.
In his next game, he dropped the ball while trying to put it down against Canterbury without a defender in sight. Which showed that he is still young, still learning, still finding his way. Teething problems take time to pass.
Consistency at the top level is a skill that can only be learned through experience and even for his age Toia hasn’t had the same time to do it as most.
A series of knee injuries and a broken jaw mean he had played just 12 games in the past two seasons before 2025. Even so, he’s played more NSW Cup games than he has NRL games.
It might have cost Toia valuable time to settle into the NRL ahead of what will be the biggest night of his life, but Watson — no stranger to injury himself — believes it’s given Toia a greater maturity and perspective.
“You don’t take things for granted as much. That was part of my mentality of enjoying the experience because when you’re away from the game it can really test your love for the game,” Watson said.
“You have time to reflect, and Rob’s had those two ACL’s, so when he’s come back he’s really enjoyed his training. He’s been really diligent.
“That’s really come through in the thing that’s impressed me so much this year, which is his attitude and mentality in defence.
“He’s put that first and he’s wanted to do a good job defensively and he has done that.”
That defensive aptitude will be put to the ultimate test on Wednesday night. Mitchell and the rest of the NSW left edge would feature heavily in Laurie Daley’s game plan regardless of who was opposite them, but given Toia’s inexperience he will no doubt be targeted.
Even if there are many more Queensland nights to come, this might be the greatest challenge he ever faces.
Never again will he be asked to confront such an unknown and nobody in the history of State of Origin football has been asked to do such a big job with such little experience.
If things backfire it might be as a footnote, a factoid for the trainspotters to pull out at a trivia night — the rookie who got cast into the Origin fires with so few NRL appearances you can count them on your fingers.
But it could also be as the newest piece of the story Queensland tells itself over and over, the one that starts with an unheralded maroon becoming more than he ever thought he could be when his state needed him.
Ten games is not a long time to learn how to be a hero, but 80 minutes of Origin football can be enough to become one.
