It was Game 1, 1995. Almost 40,000 fans were packed into the old Sydney Football Stadium and the Queensland Maroons were being led back down the tunnel after halftime. Captain Trevor Gillmeister's face was an unreadable mask of intent as his charges clung to the most unlikely of leads. It was 2-0, and the job wasn't done yet.
"Queenslander!" Came the call.
"Queenslander!" There it was again.
The broadcast camera worked its way down the line of a largely second (even third or fourth) choice Maroons outfit, before landing on Billy Moore.
And a State of Origin legend was born. Moore's rallying call inspired both team and state, and provided an enduring soundtrack to the core values of a proud rugby league territory. Queenslanders; underdogs, their backs against the wall; a collective mindset.
NSW fans might get nauseous at the whole 'Queenslander' thing; so too the idea that the Maroons get Origin more than they do (just ask Andrew Johns). They probably have a point, and it could likely be argued there's a degree of disrespect in the Maroons apparent sole claim to pride, passion and belief in the jersey.
But has Queensland's carefully cultivated passion, fortified over more than four decades of victories against the odds, loyalty, faith, and players delivering above and beyond what may ordinarily be expected of them, been diluted ahead of the 2023 series opener?
Who better to ask if the Maroons have turned their backs on the bedrocks of Origin past, and the much discussed "pick-and-stick" mantra, than Billy Moore himself?
"I don't think we have abandoned it," Moore tells ESPN.
"We've grown a bit more pragmatic. We're showing loyalty, just not blind loyalty."
The 52-year-old is revered in his home state after a 17-game Origin career, and that war cry.
"I'm heading to a little town called Gayndah (in Queensland's North Burnett region; population approx. 2000) for a Maroons function tonight. There'll be 150 people there, and I guarantee you they'll all be fixated on next Wednesday night. Because they care, mate."
Regardless of how the Blues go about things or how much they truly care, Queensland's team is Queensland's team. Players must be signed off on by coach and selector, before being endorsed by the entirety of the state's rugby league fandom.
"From Coolangatta to Cape York," Moore enthuses.
"It's everyone's team."
Days out from the 2023 series opener in Adelaide, as Moore and other Former Origin Greats [FOGs] attend functions and relive the glories of series past, questions still linger about the makeup of Billy Slater's squad. Coming off a series win last year, there are changes, changes to a team previously defined by its incumbency.
And nowhere more-so than fullback, where many people had Kalyn Ponga written in thick ink after he got through two Knights games relatively unscathed ahead of last week's team announcement. Ponga was the guy who dominated the Blues in last year's decider, and hadn't let the team down on six prior occasions. An obvious selection then, right?
"Let's be honest, there's definitely a medical issue to consider there," Moore says, his point again highlighted by the 25 year old's triple head-knock day out in the Knights' win over Manly on Sunday, and the subsequent admission Slater simply wasn't comfortable playing him.
"Two weeks ago, he (Ponga) was amazing. Then last week (Round 13) an innocuous head knock puts him in a precarious position. I think Billy Slater and the other selectors realised that had to be considered. If an NRL game can do that to you, State of Origin is not your arena."
"Reece Walsh was picked two years ago and didn't play. He's in brilliant form and it makes sense. I'm expecting to see one of the great debuts in Origin history."
Liam Hauser is a Queensland sport journalist and author who has taken on the job of picking all time Blues and Maroons 17s in his new book 'The Immortals of State of Origin'. Luminous names missed the starting side; Alan Langer, Mal Meninga, Arthur Beetson, Paul Vautin- the list goes on. Dane Gagai got the nod as a starting winger, based on sustained excellence across much of his 22-game career.
"He's been an amazing servant, with a history of being close to our best every time he ran out," Hauser tells ESPN.
"But remembering last year, he was sin binned in the decider, he was off the pace defensively throughout the series. I'd actually thought at the time this might be the end for him."
Gagai himself was realistic when asked to assess the reality of his situation.
"Everyone is going to go back to that loyalty thing. But Queensland will always pick the team they think can do the job Wednesday night," Gagai said.
Moore doesn't see the omission as the end of Gagai's Origin road, however.
"Gagai is the key one (in the pick-and-stick debate)," Moore added.
"Centre is probably a position- one of many- where we've been bereft of depth in years past. Obviously now Hamiso (Tabuai-Fidow) has provided an option. That one I see as pure evolution. Gagai has been an incredible servant but he's not in form. Is this the end for him? I don't think so. The opportunity is still there if he wants it."
A steady stream of scathing feedback has trickled north in the wake of Gagai's axing. "Disrespectful" is one word that's been tossed around, "hypocrites" another.
"We've got one rookie, NSW has three. I wouldn't be throwing too much mud around," Moore says.
"Focus on the fact you've put a great backline back together, one that put on one of the all-time great Origin displays two years ago. Focus on getting it to Turbo and Addo-Carr, focus on getting Cleary time and space, focus on yourselves."
Kurt Capewell is next on the list of incumbent servants to miss the Maroons cut for the 2023 series opener. His omission coming down to a mixture of form and niggles. Amid David Fifita's form resurgence and Tom Gilbert's eye-catching work, the Broncos backrower simply wasn't deemed the best available option.
"If you go back to the last time we played in Adelaide, Kurt Capewell was wearing the No. 3 jersey," Moore recalls.
"You don't manufacture a position like that unless your lack of depth warrants it. What we should be celebrating is Queensland's pathways, and the fact we've got so many talented players coming through."
"I remember a time, not that long ago, we were seriously struggling to pick a competitive forward pack. Now I look at the depth coming through, the Gilberts, Cotters. It's tremendous to see."
So what would a FOG say to the brigade of Maroons who missed the cut?
Billy Moore is very quick to respond.
"Do you still dream?"
"If that fire is not extinguished, do not give up on that dream. When I realised my time in that jersey had fully come to an end, it was probably one of the saddest moments in my life."
"For guys like Kurt (Capewell), if he knows it himself he just has to say to the selectors pick me, you know I can do the job. Other guys have had a go, but now I'm ready."
It's worth noting the noise to come in the wake of Queensland's team announcement has not come from those who missed out. Ponga, Gagai and Capewell have responded with class; clear about their disappointment, while remaining aware they're part of a cause far bigger than themselves.
"I'm in my 50's and I still want to run out there and be part of it," Moore concedes.
"Once you get that taste, of course you don't want to give it away. You don't run out onto Lang Park; you float. You float out onto the ground, and you know everybody there watching you cares about the team."
"Those guys accept they're not there, but they're not gonna live with it. There are few better things in sport than internal pressure. Once there's pressure to be at your best, or lose your jersey and be replaced, that creates a great environment."
So is all the southern noise and criticism is just an indication the Blues don't get it?
"They're grasping at something they think is significant, but we just look at them and go 'that's not the point.' It's almost like we speak the same language, but use a different dialect. It might look like there's a point to be made about it (loyalty), but there ain't. It's a cliche, but they need to get better about worrying about their own backyard."
And what are the expectations for the band of players who have been picked, through the eyes of the FOG fraternity?
"I expect them to lay a platform full of energy," Moore says.
"I remember last time we went to Adelaide. We ambushed the Blues, and I remember waking up the next morning and going for a walk around the city, thinking I've just witnessed history."
"They'll be wanting to be thinking the same thing come next Thursday morning. Play the games of their lives, leave nothing in the tank, don't make any excuses. Speaking tactically; kick for the grass, don't let their back three control the tempo, get up in the faces of their centres and make their big forwards run all day. Do that, hold your heads up, and an entire state will love you forever."
It's enough to give a guy goosebumps, isn't it Billy?
"It takes me back to when I was a nine-year-old kid. Watching Arthur Beetson leading out the Maroons (in 1980). I remember looking back at my dad, and he was emotional. Dad wasn't a very emotional man as a rule. I remember thinking 'wow, I can feel the power.' This is what it has with the Queensland public, and it's the dialect NSW just doesn't get. For Queenslanders, this is their moment, this is what they care about."
And what makes Moore think this group will be able to seize that moment?
"That jersey. There's no greater prize for a rugby league player to have."