Tiny detail inspired by Dick ‘Tosser’ Turner in Maroons’ State of Origin jersey comes to light

The Queensland players don't need to be reminded to do their duty when they run out in the State of Origin series opener on Wednesday night.

The inspirational words – "Queensland expects you to do your duty" – will be on the inside collar of the jersey worn by each and every one of them when they do battle with NSW in Adelaide.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Maroons legend Brent Tate and Blues legend Robbie Farah talk State of Origin.

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The phrase, coined by the late and great former team manager Dick ‘Tosser’ Turner, has as much power today as it did more than 40 years ago.

FOGS (Former Origin Greats) chief executive and Queensland legend Gene Miles started his Origin career when Maroons ‘Godfather’ Turner became team manager in 1982.

"Tosser had those inspiring words written on an original telegram and when Arthur Beetson was coach he would read it out to us as we were about to walk out," Miles said.

"Even today that message is on a banner and is the last thing the players see as they walk out the tunnel ... that Queensland expects you to do your duty.

"We have always had unbelievable support throughout Queensland and that is the legacy of Tosser Turner."

Miles said Turner was mostly a jovial character.

"But when he read out that one-liner we all knew it was game face time," Miles said.

Miles said he was not surprised that current Maroons coach Billy Slater was keeping the flame alive.

"Billy is all about legacies and tradition," Miles said.

Slater played most of his Origin career under Mal Meninga and embraced the team's annual fan day trips to Queensland country centres. Mingling with the public reinforced to him who the players were competing for. Slater took the team to Warwick last year as coach and will continue the legacy this year in Cairns.

"Whatever walk of life the people of Queensland are in they all love this time of year and we have to keep that legacy going with this new group of players," Miles said.

Maroons forward Tom Gilbert has embraced the legacy.

"Queensland expects you to do your duty ... I like it," Gilbert said.

"It mentions Queensland and not the team. That's who we are playing for.

"We are not playing for the 17. We are playing for the miners, the Indigenous, the lower socio-economic people, the people in Brisbane, the people of far north Queensland. That's Queensland."

Gilbert said winning was the goal on Wednesday night, before adding there was more to it.

"All (Queenslanders) want for us is to go and play well and give 110 per cent. Obviously they would love a result but the expectation is that you do your job, do your duty and play hard for Queensland," he said.

"That is really humbling. To know you have got the whole of Queensland behind you is pretty special and pretty unique."

Chris ‘Choppy’ Close, the man of the match in the inaugural 1980 Origin match and a former Maroons team manager, said Turner was "the initiator and the guardian of that Queensland spirit in a rugby league sense and also the catalyst for preserving it".

"That legacy he handed over. He brought me in and all I did was what he asked, and that was to keep that spirit alive," Close said.

"I passed that on to ‘Boxhead’ (former team manager Steve Walters).

"Mal Meninga when he coached, he understood that.

"Tosser's words are about a mindset, a capability and a KPI."

Close said everyone involved with helping the Maroons play at their best were preserving the legacy.

"They are the torch bearers of the past and carrying it into their era and hopefully they can pass it on, through keeping it alive, to the next era," he said.

"From Tosser until now we have carried the torch and kept it alight right the way through to Billy.

"We don't always win as a result of it. Sometimes we give our best and we still don't win, but we will always give our best."

Maroons coach Slater explained why the Turner quote meant so much to him.

"I was fortunate enough when I first started playing State of Origin to meet Tosser and get to know him," he said.

"That's one thing that is really important to us, to know why the Queensland State of Origin team means so much to the people of Queensland and why we get the opportunity to play in an environment that we get to play in.

"Anyone that was at Suncorp Stadium last year in Game 3 would have been blown away with what sort of atmosphere they felt. We need to respect that by diving in to understanding why.

"That's why Tosser's words are so important."

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