Renouf’s dream Origin start and finish, with a miracle thrown in

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Steve Renouf finished his State of Origin career with a series win to savour under his favourite coach after a dream debut alongside his idols.

There is no doubt the Super League war was a major factor the man universally known a “Pearl” only played 11 Origin games for the Maroons in the 1990s but there were highlights along the way that he cherishes.

Renouf was a 20-year-old rising star at the Brisbane Broncos and in the second year of an electrician’s apprenticeship at Mater Hospital when he made his Origin debut in game one of 1991.

"It was very emotional. Our managers and coach Graham Lowe were talking to me about not getting too overawed. It was very hard in my first Origin not to let that happen.

"You walk into the dressing room and see everyone's jerseys hanging up and I had to walk over to mine. I get goose bumps talking about it now. 

“Controlling emotions on game-day of an Origin is nerve wracking but Wally came over and tapped me on the shoulder and had words of encouragement. I thought, 'I am behind The King'. We all walked out behind him and the crowd noise hits you. I'll never forget it.” Renouf came off the bench in a gritty 6-4 win.

He went on to win NSWRL premierships with the Broncos in 1992 and 1993 the following two seasons, scored the famous 1992 grand final try and then the winner for Australia in the 1992 World Cup final. Despite his status as one of the game's best centres in those years he only played one match for the Maroons in each of those seasons.

"I only came in due to injury, initially when Rowdy (Dale) Shearer was injured," Renouf recalled Mal Meninga was the first centre picked, but Peter Jackson and Mark Coyne were the other two centres initially blocking his path.

"I had to bide my time and I was happy with that," Renouf said.

Playing alongside Jackson and Shearer was a highlight and a lot of fun."

"We used to call him 'Mylanta Mouth. We'd go out on the drink the first night in camp and the strappers always had Mylanta tablets to settle your stomach the next day.

“Jacko would take them at training and he'd have the chalkie residue of the tablets all over his mouth. He was awesome.

“Rowdy always scored tries when Queensland needed them and was a lot of fun too. I remember there was one Origin game when he rocked up when he wasn’t even selected just to come and get the gear. 

“We'd say, ‘what are you doing here?' but no-one was going to say no to him. You had to watch that he didn’t steal your jersey!”

One of Renouf’s favourite memories was under coach Lewis in game one of the 1994 series at the SFS, won 16-12 with the famous “miracle try” by Mark Coyne sealing it. 

There were eight Maroons involved, including Meninga and Allan Langer who both handled twice, in a try that went through a perfect 10 sets of hands.

As he skirted down the left touchline Renouf somehow managed a "miracle pass" of his own to flying Broncos teammate Michael Hancock.

“There was a call to ping it,” Renouf recalled.

“I got a pass up high from Willie Carne. I had space and bolted. As the defence came across I saw Licker (Hancock) was there and I did this inside-out pass. 

“Mick’s pass was a ripper to Darren Smith. Smithy did a beautiful pass to Alf who did the same to Mal. Obviously Coyney had work to do to get to the tryline and it all worked out.

That try, you couldn’t script it. The No.4 jersey he wore in that match is one Renouf holds dear.

“I still have the 1994 'miracle try' jersey. I pulled that out a couple of years ago when I was asked to do a State of Origin promotion,” Renouf said.

“That is special to me. As soon as I saw it I said to myself, ‘this is the one'.”

The Broncos players, including Renouf, were ruled out of the 1995 and 1997 Origin series due to Super League.

They were allowed to play in 1996 but NSW won 3-0 in a series to forget. Renouf was “gutted” to also miss out on Australian jerseys at that time but when the game reunited in 1998 he was determined to have a series to remember under coach Wayne Bennett.

“I really didn’t like being coached by anyone else."

"There were nine Broncos in that 1998 Origin team and I was a lot more comfortable. Having Wayne as a coach again was a breath of fresh year. 

“Every coach has their own way of doing things. Some of my other Origin coaches would tell me, ‘you've got to hate NSW' but I couldn’t do that. I was brought up with mum telling me not to hate anyone!

"Wayne had a different approach. He didn't pump us up in that way. He knew if we played our best that we would win. Alfie Langer, Kevvie Walters and myself... we are not aggressive people. Shane Webcke was. It didn’t take much for him going!”

The Maroons claimed the series 2-1 with a 19-4 win at the SFS in the decider and Renouf cried tears of joy after finally playing all matches in a winning series.

“I also knew I was about to pull the pin on my rep career,” he recalled. 

"I didn't tell anyone that 1998 was going to be my last series. I'd made the decision but no-one knew until after the final game in Sydney so it was emotional.

"We won and it was a good way to go out.”

Renouf, who won four titles with the Broncos, looks back on his Origin career as a great time in his life.

"We enjoyed every moment,” he said.

“I think all the boys enjoyed camp more than anything. It was do your medical, get your gear and go and do a XXXX promotion.

"I played across two eras. I played my first game with Mal, Alf and Kevvie in Wally's last series and finished with guys like Brad Thorn, Darren Lockyer, Tonie Carroll and Shane Webcke who went on to have such great careers.”