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Queensland will enter Wednesday's State of Origin opener in Adelaide as heavy underdogs but it's a position they're all too familiar with.
FIVE QUEENSLAND STATE OF ORIGIN BOILOVERS:-
* ARTIE'S BIG MOVE (1980)
Sydney-based Queenslander Arthur Beetson played 18 games for the Blues to contribute towards a 159-54 record over the Maroons from 1908-1980.
Coaxed back as a 35-year-old to lead his home state in the new origin-based format, Beetson belted his club teammates to set the scene and played all 80 minutes in a defining Queensland win.
His presence inspired young duo Mal Meninga and Wally Lewis to revive a tired concept, Queensland winning the stand-alone game the following year before it became a best-of-three series from 1982.
* COYNE'S MIRACLE TRY (1994)
Many had already headed for the Sydney Football Stadium exits with five minutes to play and Queensland trailing the Blues 12-4.
Willie Carne made things interesting with a try to bring the Maroons within two, but it looked to be in vain as NSW pinned them in their own end from the restart.
With one last roll of the dice Allan Langer tossed it wide to Kevin Walters who found Carne.
Steve Renouf then ran off the centre, the ball going through four more sets of hands before Mark Coyne stretched for the line to score the match winner.
"That's not a try, that's a miracle," commentator Ray Warren bellowed in a moment that embodied the spirit Queensland teams always claim to harness.
* FATTY'S NEVILLE NOBODIES (1995)
Despite Coyne's magic moment the year prior, Queensland still lost that series and stood no chance the following season with a host of their best in the Super League and deemed ineligible.
Paul Vautin stepped in as coach after Wayne Bennett backed out in response to the ARL's Super League player snub, backing an 18-year-old Ben Ikin to fill the void left by Langer, Walters, Wendell Sailor and Steve Renouf.
A star-studded NSW side steered by the Johns brothers and Brad Fittler was expected to eat Queensland alive.
An historic 2-0 win came in the opener, with Vautin's no-name Maroons eventually clean-sweeping the series with wins in Melbourne and Brisbane.
* WAYNE'S ROOKIES (2001)
Bennett was back in the hot seat a few years later but Queensland's prospects looked equally dim when he was forced to blood 10 debutants before Langer's glorious game-three farewell.
They bounced back from a 2000 series hiding to win game one, Carl Webb memorably steamrolling his way to the line on debut.
The Blues levelled the series before Bennett lured 34-year-old Langer back from England to orchestrate a famous win.
* LOCKYER POUNCES (2006)
Queensland hadn't won a series since Alfie's final act and the life Beetson had breathed into the concept 26 years earlier was slowly fading.
The Maroons forced a decider in Melbourne, having lost game one by a point, but were staring down the barrel when they trailed by 10 points late in the second half.
They were back within four points though when Lockyer swooped on Brett Hodgson's loose pass out of dummy half, squeezing between two NSW jerseys to pinch the ball and scamper over.
They held on for a two-point win, flipping what would have been a fourth-straight series loss into eight years of Origin dominance.
