‘I feel so proud’: Dual-code star Te’o treasures magic Maroons nights
- FOGS
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
Ben Te’o reached incredible heights in two codes in his footballing career but his achievements in seven State of Origin matches for Queensland remain a career highlight.
The tough and uncompromising forward represented Samoa in 2008 at international rugby league level and had come through junior age groups with New Zealand rep sides but Origin held a special allure.
“On my journey of coming over to Australia to play in the NRL, and after going to Keebra Park High School, I decided I was going to have a crack at State of Origin,” he said.
“If we were going by today’s Origin rules I wouldn’t qualify but at that time it was based on where you played your first senior football and I made the cut through the schoolboy system.”
While playing for the Broncos he was selected in the emerging Origin camps and had been 18th man before he was called into the Origin decider in 2012 at Suncorp Stadium, won 21-20 by the Maroons courtesy of a Cooper Cronk field goal.
He felt he had played his best footy in 2010 but did not make the side, a reflection of how good Queensland was at the time.
“Mal Meninga stuck really solid with guys that had repeatedly done the job for him. I just had to wait for my time to come and the opening came when Dave Taylor jumped out of the team and I jumped in,” Te’o recalled.
“I remember getting the call from Mal and being very proud, but pride subsides to nerves straight away, just understanding how big a game this is.
“In 2012 I wasn’t in as good a form as the previous two years but I knew I had what it took in terms of being able to play on the edge, middle and centre.
“What stands out was the tension of the buildup and the anthems.
Because of the enormity of the pressure of Origin and being on debut I don’t think I ever ran myself off my feet like I did in my debut. Every single thing I did was as hard and fast as I could.
It was the Maroons’ seventh series win in a row and Te’o felt blessed to have been able to line up with so many greats.
“I remember having a great party at the after-match function. Every time I drive past that Royal On the Park Hotel near the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane I get a lot of good memories,” he said.
The next year was his last in his first NRL stint at the Broncos, who failed to fire. The Maroons won again 2-1. In 2014 the result was flipped and the Blues finally broke through. That year Te’o won his first NRL title at South Sydney in his second and last season for the club before linking with rugby union club Leinster.
“Those two years of 2013 and 2014 for me were ones where if Origin went well then clubland went bad and then Origin went bad and clubland was good. Nothing was ever all good for me in that sense,” he said.
“When I look at it from a footy point of view Queensland has always done well in terms of fighting hard until the end and often got out of trouble.
“I didn’t feel like that 2014 series was one of them. Quite a few things went wrong, especially in game one. I always remember Cooper Cronk breaking his hand and going off and we were in all-sorts from then on.
“I feel like we got caught off guard and nothing flowed after he got injured. We lost and they were very good in the second game and won. I remember Mal wanting to give us all an opportunity to play that last game at Suncorp where everyone was awesome and we had a huge (32-8) win.” Origin holds a unique place amongst Te’o’s many accomplishments.
“I think winning the NRL premiership with the team you’ve been with all year is the ultimate goal. Getting that premiership ring is a thing that separates people’s careers, so winning the comp in 2014 at Souths is the number one thing I did,” Te’o said.
“My kids never got to see me play too much but when Origin fever sweeps through primary schools and kids are talking about it, for my daughter to say ‘my dad played Origin’ means even more to me now that I have finished playing.
“When I played it was always about the next goal. I wanted to play first grade. Next I wanted to play Origin, then to win a comp … and then to play rugby at the highest level. I just wanted to tick those things off.”
The Origin experience is without doubt unique. The bonding appears at odds with a professional outcome but with Allan Langer on the Maroons staff the blend works a treat. “One of the strange things for me that always stood out was you spend your whole life making sacrifices and dreaming of making it. At some stages you doubt yourself,” Te’o mused.
“Will I make it in that arena? Am I tough enough? Will I handle Origin? “Then you get selected and it’s quite an old-school type of thing. Alfie takes you for a night out and you get on the drink and get blind drunk days out from the biggest game of your life. “You think to yourself ‘that was a great night with lots of funny stories’ and you really bond with your teammates.
The next day you have to switch on and get your professionalism hat back on and do all the one-percenters. “That is a pivotal part of Origin. No doubt things are slowly changing with that stuff but getting together and having a night out before a game was one of the best things that happened in my career.”
Te’o went on to play 18 rugby union Tests for England and two for the British and Irish Lions before finishing up at the Broncos in 2021 where he played the last of his 174 NRL games.
He has since had great success as a coach and was the assistant to Michael Maguire in 2025 where his defensive systems played a vital role in the club’s seventh title win.
“It is nice to be coaching and settled with my young family in Brisbane. “I love being involved in rugby league. After I retired I started getting back involved with the grass roots and coaching schoolboy football, under 20s, then working my way up through Queensland Cup at the Redcliffe Dolphins and now onto NRL.
“I went back in time and got involved with young men coming out of school and getting apprenticeships and trying to make their way as footballers.” His next goal is to be a head coach in the NRL, when the timing is right.
“I’m not sure when, but in the meantime it is about getting better as a coach and progressing through the system,” Te’o said.
“I’ve progressed from the bottom up and there is only one more stop on the road and that’s to be a head coach.”
