When Queensland Maroons legend Gene Miles tells you his favourite State of Origin series is the only one he lost, you sit up and take notice.
It begs the obvious question... why?
The answer is reflective of why the 1986 season was a triumph for Miles over great adversity after a devastating knee injury in 1985 ruled him out of Origin contention that year.
Miles won six of the seven Origin series he played in during the 1980s in a stellar 20-game Maroons career. He'd won the 1982, 1983 and 1984 series under coach Arthur Beetson and then missed the entire 1985 campaign after a cataclysmic injury while playing a pre-season game for Wynnum Manly in McLean in northern New South Wales.
Miles did his ACL and PCL or, as he describes it, "everything that held your leg together".
"It was an horrific injury and I call it horrific because it was old school the way it was treated. The cast was on for 10 weeks and they had to keep replacing it as my leg wasted away," Miles recalled.
"They wouldn’t touch it in Queensland. The specialist said I had to go to Sydney and get it done by [orthopaedic surgeon] Merv Cross.
"That plays mind games with you for a start… just thinking whether you could come back from it. They said that all I had holding the knee together was skin. I thought that was scary."
Miles got back on the field in late 1985, hit the ground running in 1986 and by the end of the year had played in all three Origin games and won back his Australian jersey. He played nine Tests and scored eight tries in a memorable and undefeated 1986 international campaign.
In contrast, the Maroons lost the opening game of the 1986 Origin series 22-16 and then suffered 24-20 and 18-16 defeats in a 3-0 series loss.
"I know it sounds crazy to say that was my favourite series, but it was, just because of my own personal circumstances at that time. To get back in that environment was the one thing I was craving when I was rehabbing my leg," Miles said.
"That was the thing that was driving me, because State of Origin was the pinnacle.
"It was all about getting back to that Origin level after the injury, competing at that level and then going on to represent Australia."
Miles has an interesting perspective on the 1986 series with 34 years of hindsight.
"I won all the Origin series I played in except for 1986. To lose one I got to feel what it felt like. You lose one and you don’t want to lose any more," Miles said.
"It made me hungry, and especially with Wayne Bennett as the coach.
"That was just so competitive that particular series, and I love that. There was a struck match between both those sides with no more than a converted try in any of the three games, and it could have gone either way in any of them.
"The majority of those guys then went on the Kangaroo tour together at the end of that year."
Miles toured with his great Maroons mates and plenty from the Blues as well, with Brett Kenny one of the closest.
"I got first crack at centre on that Kangaroo Tour under Don Furner," Miles recalled.
“Donny played me and Brett Kenny in the centres and the King at five-eighth. Brett says to this day that he didn’t enjoy playing in the centres but he did when I was his centre partner."
Kenny, of course, was on the opposite side to Miles in much of his Origin career.
Miles had sat on the bench in the opening match of the 1982 series and made his starting debut at home in the second game of the series, won 11-7 by the Maroons.
He scored in the left hand corner of Lang Park after a blindside move where he ran over the top of Greg Brentnall, a try he could still recall "as clear as day" some 38 years later.
It was a try that showcased the brute strength that was to become a trademark, although not as much of a trademark as the one-handed basketball style passes that he would unfurl at will throughout his career.
Miles had Arthur Beetson as coach in his first three series before missing the 3-0 series loss in 1985 when Des Morris took charge for one year.
In 1986 Bennett was appointed for the first time as Maroons mentor and it was a culture shock in more ways than one for the Wynnum Manly-aligned players like Miles, but one they soon embraced.
"We had a rivalry at club level. We wouldn’t even acknowledge Wayne if we passed him on the way to the change rooms in a club game because it was a Souths v Wynnum thing," Miles recalled.
"At Origin level it was always going to be totally different preparation-wise because he was such a disciplinarian. The question was how he was going to fit in with the culture we’d had going for years with Artie.
"To Wayne's credit, he didn’t change a lot of things. He changed a few things, which we had to do anyway. He shortened up the sessions… drinking-wise. He wouldn’t tolerate you getting on the bus looking like you’d just got to bed.
"We knew when we hit the training paddock it was football heads on, pumpkins off and just good sessions. We knew we had to change our ways.
"After that 1986 series we were down in the dumps. Wayne had been in the hot seat for the first time and had a duck egg beside his name but he had spoken to us after every game and said that things would turn around if we improved."
As Miles has already detailed, the results did not immediately follow Bennett's appointment. Despite the closeness of the scoreline in all three games in 1986, Bennett was still under immense pressure in 1987 after failing to win a game.
A heartbreaking loss at Lang Park in Game I of 1987 at the death put Bennett under further pressure. The Maroons then went to Sydney and won in the slush and returned to Lang Park with Allan Langer on song to secure a famous 2-1 series win.
Bennett was also Miles’ club coach in 1988 at the Brisbane Broncos, and retained his position as the Maroons coach with Queensland romping to a 3-0 series win .
Miles had done it all at representative level in the centres by the time the 1989 Origin series rolled around. Regarded by many as the greatest of all Maroons sides, Miles took on one final challenge at Origin level in the series by switching to second-row with great success.
"By 1989 I was playing back-row for the Broncos. A big thing that I based my game on even as a centre was that I loved the involvement,” Miles said.
"I always found myself doing some hit-ups in the forwards and getting into dummy-half just to get a good feel for the game, so moving in there wasn’t such a big deal.
"Arthur had come back as coach and didn’t change a thing, but we were grown-ups.
"When Arthur had us previously we were probably kids thinking we could do both things – drink and have a wonderful time in the leadup and then perform on the night. After what Wayne had put in place we were totally different, but we knew that Arthur was a little more casual and not as intense as Wayne."
Beetson and his men swept all before them.
The Maroons won the series 3-0, including the unforgettable win in Game II in Sydney where they finished the match with just 12 men.
It turned out to be the last for Miles as the following year he decided to focus on the Broncos where he had been made captain in the wake of the shock sacking of Lewis.
It is remarkable that so many of the 1980s Queensland legends were born within 18 months of each other. Miles, Lewis, Mal Meninga, Colin Scott, Greg Dowling, Greg Conescu, Paul Vautin, Chris Close – and the list goes on – were born in 1959 or 1960.
They shared a close bond and the late and great Dick 'Tosser' Turner was the glue that kept them all together.
Miles, and all Maroons, are eternally grateful for Turner’s contribution to Queensland’s success over the last 40 years. It was also Turner who was the creator of the FOGS [Former Origin Greats] organisation that Miles now leads as executive chairman.
"Tosser got on remarkably well with Arthur initially, and then with the transition into Wayne he made sure everything was as smooth as possible," Miles said.
"He deserves a lot of credit for that. He knew that whatever he said to 'his boys', which is what he referred to us as, we would always heed the message that he wanted to get across.
"He was there from 1982, when I debuted, and right through my whole career as the team manager and funder. I can remember one Monday night prior to a Tuesday night game he would take us out to the Wanless Go-Kart Track at Oxley for a night of fun. He would fund that himself outside of the QRL jurisdiction."
As Miles goes about his work as FOGS boss today, it is with the legacy of Beetson firmly at the forefront.
The FOGS run what is known as the FOGS ARTIE Academy, with ARTIE an acronym for 'achieving results through Indigenous education'. With great success, the program has continued the vision that Beetson always had.
"It is so important today that we make sure we continue Artie’s legacy. Back then it was his footy, but off the field he was always passionate about his people," Miles said.
"Later in life he got that across to us how important it is for kids to attend school, get a good education and get into a real job.
"We will make sure that we continue that legacy and it is my responsibility to do that until I hand over to the next person."
Beetson was Miles’ coach in his first Origin game in 1982 and also in his last in 1989, a fitting bookend to his Maroons career. As a coach Beetson was a wonderful mentor. His presence was enough to inspire and his football nous was second to none. Along the way, the players both enjoyed themselves and got the job done.
"When Arthur coached we had a wonderful time preparing for the game and it was a hell of a lot of fun," Miles recalled.
"We played on Tuesday nights in those days after a three or four day camp and had one good session – the Monday before the Tuesday.
"That's when we’d flick the switch. Wally would lead it and we’d get everything right. It was so crisp."
There is a photo of Miles with Beetson at a Queensland training session that brought back fond memories for the FOGS boss when he laid eyes on it in his office recently.
"I have never seen that photo before. I was just a kid, and there I am with my hero,” Miles said as he gazed at the image.
"It was a privilege to be coached by the great man, particularly when I think about what I know today. That is one of the proudest photos I have ever seen."
