Origin 1 was on a knife edge. The Maroons had lost the lead to a controversial try (surely it was a knock-on) then wrestled it back when “The Hammer” was put away by the mercurial Cam Munster. Only 12 men on the field with tiring legs, then as they say, “cometh the hour cometh the man.” Step forward the prop, Padua College, Kedron’s Lindsay Collins.
It was a moment of utter brilliance! Daly Cherry-Evans launched a speculator. James “Teddy” Tedesco went up in the challenge with Lindsay but Collins launched himself and attacked the dipping ball as if there was only one outcome and the quick offload to the genius that is Cam Munster,
sealed yet another extraordinary chapter in the Maroons’ Origin Legacy.
It was no surprise that the whole Maroons team ran to Collins after the try. Munster had created room for Hamisa Tabuai-Fidow a few minutes earlier to put the Maroons back in front but the sheer effort of Collins to put Munster over was iconic.
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Lindsay’s grandfather, Lionel Williamson, was known as the “Innisfail Flyer,” a speed machine on the wing representing the Innisfail club, 50 years before Billy Slater scorched the Innisfail touchlines.
Photo Credit: https://www.roosters.com.au/news
Williamson went on to play first grade for the Newtown Jets in Sydney and represented Queensland and Australia, including scoring two tries in the 1968 World Cup final win over France.
Photo Credit: https://www.qrl.com.au/
Lindsay himself, as a Padua College youngster, represented Queensland in Rugby Union as a flanker and played AFL as a ruckman. This led to him being invited to a Brisbane Lions rookie camp, though his junior Rugby League club, Brothers, fed his passion.
A stint at the Broncos began whilst still at Padua in year 11, but he continued to play Union for Padua which led to selection for the National Gold Squad with the ARU.
Photo Credit: https://www.roosters.com.au/news/2022/10/18/kangaroo-collins-following-footsteps-of-famous-grandfather/
The Sydney Roosters saw his potential and signed him in November of 2016, slipping through the Broncos’ fingers, the team he had always supported.
Collins was considered one of the standouts of Origin 2022. In Adelaide, the Padua boy took his reputation to a new level and delivered a boost to the extraordinary reputation Padua College has built, becoming their 6th graduate to play State of Origin.
Origin 2 kicks off at 8.05 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21 at Suncorp stadium.
Published 6 June 2023
