Queensland’s Patrick Carrigan created State of Origin history, becoming the first debutant to win the Wally Lewis Medal after incredible first three matches in his representative career.
The Maroons overcame concussions to two players in the opening minutes to win the 2022 series 2-1 with a 22-12 win in game three that was sealed by a remarkable intercept try from Ben Hunt.
Winning the series medal is an incredible feat from Carrigan, who made his Origin debut in game one. He is one of three Maroons to have played in this year’s squad to have won the Wally Lewis Medal, joining 2017 winner Dane Gagai and 2020 winner Cameron Munster, who missed the decider.
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“I don’t know what to say,” he said after receiving the medal from ‘The King’ Lewis.
“I think the two fullbacks of both sides probably one of them should be wearing this.”
Carrigan ran for 130 metres and laid a game-high 45 tackles, edging out the likes of Kalyn Ponga (299 metres, three linebreaks) and James Tedesco (285 metres) for the prestigious award.
However, despite the excellence of the two No.1s, Carrigan’s heroics from the series-opener as well as his terrific game three performance were enough to net him the incredible honour.
“I can’t even explain tonight. The whole series has been unreal,” he told Maroons great Darren Lockyer after the match.
“Billy (Slater) said at the start of the camp that you never have a mortgage on a Maroons jersey and just the time that him … Nate Myles, Greg Inglis, Jono Thurston, all those guys have had for us to learn and teach us, and they’re some of the greats of the game, it’s just been unreal.”
Carrigan revealed how a pre-game visit from injured Maroons teammates Reuben Cotter and Xavier Coates had spurred he and his teammates.
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“Yeah (felt the Queensland spirit) for sure. I think even pre-game I got a bit of a good feeling,” he said.
“We came downstairs and Reuben Cotter and big Xavier Coates were in the team room and that was a nice little surprise for the boys that they got to come here and they were a massive part of what we did in game one.”