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Origin greats divided over whether Maroons juggernaut will clinch seventh consecutive series

Queensland’s Origin greats are divided over whether Mal Meninga’s Maroons juggernaut will clinch a seventh consecutive series victory this season following the retirement of inspirational skipper Darren Lockyer.

Queensland’s most-capped Origin player with 36 appearances, Lockyer scored the series-clinching try in 2006 that set in chain the Maroons’ remarkable dominance of the Blues under Meninga’s reign.

Without Lockyer’s big-match poise in 2012, some suggest the Maroons may be ripe for the picking as New South Wales coach Ricky Stuart plots Queensland’s downfall for the first time since 2005, when Stuart, coincidentally, was also coaching the Blues.

But former Maroons enforcer Sam Backo scoffs at the no-Lockyer, no-hope sentiment. He points to the burgeoning scrumbase partnership of Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk, who gave NSW a glimpse of what’s to come with slick performances in Australia’s 20-12 defeat of New Zealand in the trans-Tasman Test.

Barring injury, Cowboys five-eighth Thurston and Melbourne halfback Cronk will team at the scrumbase for Queensland for the first time in this year’s Origin opener in Melbourne.

“We’ve blooded a few guys over the years and I reckon we can’t kick on without Locky,” said Backo, who played seven Origin matches for the Maroons between 1988-90.

“JT will step up and I think Cooper Cronk is ready to be part of the starting side. When you put on that Maroon jumper, it takes guys to a new level, it’s as good as the Aussie jersey.

“I’d love to see them go seven straight but time will tell. NSW have been watching how we’ve gone about our success and they are trying to build their team around a core group of players.

“We’ll cope alright without Locky, he was a great player but the Maroons aren’t a one man team.”

While many expect the Thurston-Cronk scrumbase alliance to maintain the Maroons’ unprecedented dominance of the Blues, former prop Greg Dowling is one Queenslander urging caution in the post-Lockyer era.

“We’re going to struggle, I really mean that,” said the former Test enforcer, a veteran of 11 Origin matches between 1984-87.

“I’m a little worried. Even though ‘JT’ (Thurston) will fit into five-eighth and Cronk will be halfback, it won’t be easy to replace Darren. “Darren comes up with the big plays every time … how many times did we see him pull a game out of the fire.

“He was like Wally Lewis (former Queensland pivot), he reads the game so well and was a few steps ahead of everyone else. “We won’t quite realise how great Locky was until we haven’t got him. “This will be the hardest series we’ve faced since our first series win in 2006. “When everyone is tired, Darren makes the big play.

“Over the past decade, he has been there for Queensland, it was his try that won the 2006 series for us and now we’ve won six straight.” Thurston and Cronk have played 26 Origin matches between them and former Queensland and Australia halfback Mark Murray says the duo’s big-match experience will combat Lockyer’s absence.

“The time was right for Darren to bow out and his replacements are experienced players, they’ll fit in smoothly and do the job,” he said. “You don’t replace Wally Lewis, Allan Langer or Darren Lockyer but you move on with the next best talent and we’re fortunate to have Thurston at six. “He is a natural five-eighth, he played a fair bit there, and Cronk is an outstanding seven so I don’t think we’ll miss a beat in that regard.

“Down the track, we have (Daly) Cherry-Evans and Chris Sandow waiting in the wings, so I think Queensland’s playmaking stocks are healthy.”

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