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The Queensland State of Origin team is a rugby league team representing the state of Queensland, Australia that plays in the annual 3-match State of Origin series against arch-rivals New South Wales.

Known as the Maroons, a reference to their maroon jerseys, they are a purely representative team, traditionally made up of players from the local Brisbane Rugby League competition, however since 1988 it has consisted of National Rugby League and English Super League players.

History
Rugby league games have been played between Queensland and New South Wales since 1908, however in the early years New South Wales were the superior team, due largely to their larger and more stable club competition. The early- to mid-1920s, however, saw Queensland enter its only Pre-Origin 'golden period'. During this time they won their first ever game, in 1922, as well as another seven in succession, along with a total of 13 out of a possible 16 games between 1922 and 1926.

As the Twentieth century progressed, however, the Blues became the dominant team. Under the rules of the time, players represented the state in which they played their club football, and as New South Wales was home to many poker-machine rich clubs, the cream of Queensland's talent continually headed south of the border. However, since the introduction of State of Origin in 1980, the interstate matches have become far closer, with Queensland currently leading 39-38 in terms of games won.

Emblem
Between the early 1920s and the mid-1980s, the logo of the Queensland Maroons was the same as the Queensland Rugby League - a stylised Q alongside a Kangaroo, the mascot of the Australian touring team. Upon the beginning of State of Origin football in 1980, an embroided flag of Queensland was added to the jersey. In 198x, the logo was changed to the QRL's iconic football-in-the-Q logo, before it was integrated into a newer logo which represented only the State of Origin team, as well as the major sponsor Fourex. In 2003 the logo was again modified following an updating of the QRL's logo, and it currently is identical to the corporate logo except for the words Queensland State of Origin.

Colours
Queensland's use of maroon as the colour for its jerseys can be dated back to 1895, before the Queensland Rugby Association, later to become the Queensland Rugby League, broke away from the governing rugby union body. The first Queensland rugby team, in 1882, wore red and black jerseys, before adopting a chocolate coloured jersey in 1884. Two seasons later a dark blue jersey was adopted, only to disappear for a year and reappear in 1888, staying in use until 1894. For this period of time both New South Wales and Queensland wore blue jerseys, Queensland in the darker shade and New South Wales in their trademark sky blue. One possible reason for this is the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, which both had a strong rugby culture and were the universities of many of the key administrators at the time In 1895 Maroon was officially adopted by the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Queensland Rugby Union), and carried its use carried on to the professional code when it took to the field in 1908.

Traditionally, the Queensland jersey is maroon with a white collar, however between the late 1980s and 2003 the jersey contained more white along with silver trim. In 2004 the use of silver was replaced with gold, so as to match the new logo. The jersey has been manufactured by Canterbury since 199x, and is made out of traditional jersey fabric, as opposed to the sublimated design presently favoured by the majority of rugby league clubs.

Home Grounds
For more information on this topic, see: Suncorp Stadium Suncorp Stadium, formerly known as Lang Park, is rightly regarded as the spiritual home of rugby league in Queensland, as it has been home to the game for over 50 years. However, before the Queensland Rugby League signed the lease for the ground in 1956, interstate matches were predominalty played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground as well as the RNA's Brisbane Exhibition Ground.

Statistics and Records
For more information on this topic, see Queensland Maroons Records

Greatest Team
As part of the 25 Years of State of Origin, celebrated in 2005, the Former Origin Greats named their greatest ever Queensland team.

Current Queensland eligibility list
The following is a list of players in the National Rugby League who are eligible to play for Queensland.

*Retired from Representative rugby league.

Endnotes
Queensland Maroons