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For Billy and Cam: Queensland coach and captain inspire famous Origin series win
Sam Kosack • July 10th, 2025 12:46 am
‘For Billy and Cam’ was the message from Queensland players as they became State of Origin champions in 2025.
The Queensland team has been under intense fire the entire 2025 series, starting with a big Game I loss at home, before Billy Slater came under fire for comments towards former Blues prop Aaron Woods on the eve of Game II.
Queensland’s largest challenge however was rallying around their captain Cameron Munster, after the Maroons five-eighth lost his father earlier in the week.
Queensland, inspired by the adversity their captain and coach had experienced, played to near perfection, only making two errors in the match, and dominating NSW from the outset.
Maroons' winger Valentine Holmes revealed the bond within the group, and the desire to perform for their captain and coach, inspired the Maroons to a historic win.
“I think you knocked it on the head there, the word connected,” Holmes told SEN post-game.
“I think you knocked it on the head there, the word connected,” Holmes told SEN post-game.
“It was a pretty emotional week, this week for not only our team but our captain and our leader on the field.
“We obviously wanted to do it for him, wanted to do it for the team, wanted to do it for our family, wanted to do it for our state.
“We obviously had a lot to play for.”
Every one of Billy Slater’s selection gambles throughout the series paid off, etching his name alongside those of the great Origin coaches.
Slater’s shock decision to drop incumbent captain and halfback Daly Cherry-Evans for Tom Dearden after their poor Game I loss at Suncorp Stadium worked flawlessly as Dearden owned Accor Stadium in Game III, awarded Player of the Match after a two try performance to go with 124 metres and a line break.
Slater called Josh Papalii out of retirement for one last heroic performance and Papalii rewarded him with an inspiring performance while even Queensland’s shock centre combination of Robert Toia and Gehamat Shibasaki outclassed their far more experienced NSW counterparts.
Maroons' hooker Harry Grant revealed how the squad wanted to rally behind Slater.
“Game I wasn’t how we wanted to perform, and we made some changes real quick… credit to our coaching staff and this playing group for how we stuck together through that,” Grant told SEN post-game.
“One thing we wanted to do was have our coach’s back and have our captain’s back.
“We love him (Slater) so much and he puts so much time into this football team as a fan, then a player now as a coach the only way we could repay him and so we appreciate him… is through our performances.
“It’s history, it’s in the books now.”
