Paul Field remains the only man in State of Origin history to have never played an ARL/NRL game. Photo: Supplied.
State of Origin is the pinnacle of rugby league in Australia.
The best of the best from NSW and Queensland battle it out for 12 months of bragging rights over their clubmates. So you would expect someone chosen for the illustrious honour to have been hand-picked from the top competition in the country – the National Rugby League (NRL) or its state-based predecessor the NSWRL, or the QRL.
This wasn’t the case for Cootamundra legend Paul Field, who was chosen for the NSW representative team with no professional games in the NSWRL under his belt. He remains the only player, among the nearly 500 who have appeared in State of Origin since 1980, to have never played premiership football in the Sydney or Brisbane first-grade competitions.
The Coota hooker found his way into the squad through an alternative route that would not be possible today, but it does not stop his journey from being any less incredible.
“Back when I played in the ’80s, the City vs Country format was a lot more prevalent,” Field said.
“I was chosen to play for the Country teams a couple of years in a row. In 1983, I must have done something right because I was picked to come train with the NSW squad.
”Myself and my good mate Neville Owen were chosen to go on the camp. He was playing for Lakes United up at Newcastle at the time, but it was nice to have another boy from the bush come up with me.”
City vs Country, also known as City vs Country Origin in later years, was a singular representative match that ran annually from 1928 to 2017 in the lead-up to State of Origin. It saw the best players from Sydney-based teams (City) take on the rest of the state’s best players (Country).
Field said that without the opportunity to play in City vs Country, which has since dissolved, he would not have been chosen to play in the NSW State of Origin squad.
“Neville and I went down to training for about a week. I still remember the buzz of just going on that camp,” he said.
“A bit after that, between the first and second game, I was playing a game for the Cootamundra Bulldogs [his local side], and shortly afterwards I found out I was selected for Game 2 of Origin [in 1983].
“I got a phone call from a journalist in the local hotel. In those days, we didn’t really have mobiles and all that sort of thing. So I actually hung up on him. I thought it was one of my mates pretending to be a coach, having a go at me, because I’ve been in the training squad.
“It took two phone calls before I realised that I was actually talking to a journalist from Sydney.”
Paul Field (middle, third from the right) next to his good mate Les Boyd, representing the Country squad in 1983. Photo: Cootamundra Rugby League Football Club.
While Field believed the first crowd he played in front of in Sydney was massive, he said the roar at Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane) was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
“The second game I played, which was Game 3 of that series, up at Lang Park was probably the biggest crowd I played in front of,” he said.
“Sydney was good too, but Lang Park was a whole different beast.”
Field’s record representing NSW sits split at one win and one loss.
In his first game, the Blues narrowly defeated Queensland 10-6, while his second match was a little more one-sided, going down 43-22 to the Maroons.
“I was certainly over the moon with getting selected, especially coming from the bush,” he said.
“It’s probably the greatest moment I’ve had in terms of sporting. I’ve done a lot of good things over my time, but playing in Origin is certainly at the top of that list.”
He remains a massive rugby league fan, serving his beloved Cootamundra Bulldogs to this day.
“One of the biggest highlights of my playing career for me was representing Cootamundra in the City to Country,” he said.
“I remember playing with a great friend of mine, Les Boyd [another famous Cootamundra player, who played eight games for NSW, 75 for the Manly Sea Eagles and 17 for the Australian Kangaroos].
“Playing with Les in that Country side was a huge highlight and one of my favourite moments of my life. Unfortunately, I don’t think the City vs Country format will ever return.
”Kids who are 15, 16 and older are going to Sydney or Canberra to play. I just don’t see them resurrecting it, which is a huge shame because it was a big honour for some of us bush kids.”
With the NSW Blues getting the wood over Queensland in last week’s opener for the 2025 series in Brisbane, Field is cautiously optimistic his old squad can get the job done this year.
“I think we [NSW] can get much better, but I’m sure Queensland can play a lot better too,” he said.
“I’d like nothing more than to wrap it up in Game 2 across at Perth, but both teams are very good and it can change very quickly.”
The retired league star can be found watching his Coota Bulldogs play at Les Boyd Oval most weekends.
