Terrific write-up:
CHOC Watmough was only minutes away from disappearing up the tunnel when he found him. Ben Kennedy. The mate, mentor and champion Blue whose number he was about to finally wear himself.
"Yeah, I was about to get up and leave the dugout to get changed for the game,'' Watmough told The Daily Telegraph last night, a Channel 9 man-of-the-match envelope sitting at his feet.
"Then I looked left and there he was. BK wasn't going to come to the game until I asked him. Got tickets for his whole family. It was massive to have him here.''
And what did the legendary No.13 say to the incumbent?
"He just told me to get involved,'' Watmough said with a smile. "Said `Mate, this game is gonna define you as an Origin player'.''
Which is why, somewhere among all the muscle, madness and Maroonwash threats that was Origin III, Choc announced his arrival as a NSW Origin player.
Did it with 80 minutes of charges, tackles and offloads. Slides and rushes.
Still going so hard in that unbelievable last minute of play _Â "after that up 'n' under for an all-in'' _ that even Queenslanders must wish he was born in Atherton rather than Auburn.
Because if this series is remembered for nothing else south of the border, it should be for the arrival of Choc.
This controversial Sea Eagle whose efforts are stronger than truck-stop coffee.
Who proves there is more to league than numbers and decimal points. Who, as of this morning, has claimed the enforcer crown once worn by William Marshall Mason.
Because Choc's was a performance all line speed, line breaks and "line up, boys, to follow me''.
When Ben Creagh scored after 66 minutes, it was from a Watmough break. When the Maroons were pinged for trying to slow the ruck just 5minutes later, it was from a Watmough offload. And no points for guessing who nailed Matt Scott from the first kick after the break.
Here was an effort that reeked of State of Origin.
Like Choc lunging at Lockyer. Threatening Thurston. Only 18 seconds from half-time and there he was again, ripping, tearing, dragging lazy Queensland defenders out of the ruck.
One percenters.
"I'm not quite sure what he's on but I wouldn't mind some,'' Blues coach Craig Bellamy said afterwards.
"A couple of times there he'd slow down and I'd think it was time to give him a rest. Then he'd get the ball again and charge 15 or 20m.''
And, sure, the fella has errors in him. Like two minutes into the second half when a wayward Choc pass was scooped up by Queensland and, within the set, centre Justin Hodges had scored out wide.
But this, remember, is the same bloke who back in '05 lasted only one game before being punted. Who stood accused of drinking too much in camp, ignoring team rules and then got caught up in a wrestle with the very same Ben Kennedy who was at Suncorp Stadium last night.
Told in no uncertain terms he would never play for NSW again.
Asked about that mmory last night, Watmough said: "Mate, I don't know anything about that.
"That was 2005. This is now. That's all I'm worried about.''
Watmough's man-of-the-match efforts were also celebrated all across NSW, with punters plunging on the back-rower with TAB Sportsbet _ sending him from $21 to $15 and taking just under $100,000 from the bookies.
And so exactly how much is in that envelope at his feet?
"No, nuthin', it's empty,'' he laughs. "But when I do get the cash ... well, I'll be putting it straight over the bar for the boys tonight.''
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,25789582-5006066,00.html