When it comes to wingers, Queensland has often been spoilt for choice.
Over the years, we've seen the likes of Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Dale Shearer, Matt Sing, Darius Boyd, Israel Folau and Mark Coyne don the Maroon Jersey. From this prestigious group of flyers we have seen several prolific try scorers.
Darius Boyd: 17 Tries, 28 Games
Dale Shearer: 12 Tries, 26 Games
Israel Folau: 7 Tries, 8 Games
Lote Tiquri: 5 Tries, 6 Games
Matt Sing: 5 Tries, 24 Games
Mark Coyne: 4 Tries, 19 Games
Wendell Sailor: 1 Try, 14 Games
While these flyers have been sensational try scorers for the Queensland Maroons, current wingers Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai are on their way to becoming arguably the most prolific try scoring pairing Queensland has ever seen.
Gagai has scored 9 tries in 9 games, whilst Valentine Holmes has 6 tries in 4 games, giving them a combined total of 15 tries in 13 games, and a try scoring strike rate of 1.15.
It took Gagai just 3 games to score his first Origin hat-trick, whilst it only took Valentine Holmes 2 games.
To put this into perspective, only 6 other players have scored hat-tricks in Origin history: Chris Anderson (1983), Kerry Boustead (1984), Ryan Girdler (2000), Lote Tuqiri (2002), Matt Sing (2003) and Matt King (2005).
It must also be noted Gagai now sits 9th overall for tries scored in Origin, and is the only player in the top 10 try scorers to have played less than 10 Games.
All other Queensland players in the Top 10 Try Scorers category have played more than 25 Games, and 4 of these 6 have played more than 30 Origin Games (See table below).
Top Origin Try Scorers:
1. Greg Inglis – 18 Tries (32 Games)
2. Darius Boyd – 17 Tries (28 Games)
3. Dale Shearer – 12 Tries (26 Games)
4. Billy Slater – 12 Tries (30 Games)
5. Michael O'Connor – 11 Tries (19 Games)
6. Jarryd Hayne – 11 Tries (23 Games)
7. Allan Langer – 10 Tries (34 Games)
8. Darren Lockyer – 9 Tries (36 Games)
9. Dane Gagai – 9 Tries (9 Games)
10. Timana Tahu – 8 Tries (11 Games)
