Luke Lewis is NSW's last link to Origin glory The Blues say they've moved on from off field drama, and won't be distracted ahead of Origin II. NSW Origin veteran Luke Lewis. Luke Lewis in action for the NSW Blues during Origin I. Picture: Porteous Gregg Source: The Daily Telegraph IF LUKE Lewis had his time over, he would stay longer. Party harder. "And definitely celebrate with more than one beer," he grins. But I was 19. A kid. So I won my Origin series, had a schooner ... then got a lift home with mum. Sitting now at a small cafe inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Coogee - clad in purple trackies and black beanie, inked arms poking from beneath a white tee - Lewis is trying to explain just what some might call the Origin magic, the secret. See, of the 21 Blues already called on this year by coach Laurie Daley, only one knows what it's like to actually win whole shebang. Louie. This unassuming Sydney westie who, way back in 2004, was thrown headlong into a chaotic mix all Fire Up!, Freddy Fittler revivals and that Shaun Timmins field goal. Gus Gould was the coach. Big Willie the cult star. And as for which roomie helped prepare him for Origin alongside childhood hero Brad Fittler? "Aaah, you know what?" the 29-year-old stammers. It's so long ago I don't even remember. Indeed, since his sole Origin triumph, life for Lewis has moved through nine years, three houses, two clubs, even one wedding. A wait stretched so long, the back-rower knows Origin heartache almost as well as wife Sonia. "Yeah, she and I met only a couple of weeks before the first game," Lewis recalls. Sonia actually came to both Sydney matches of that series too, which we won. And still it doesn't seem quite real does it? Almost impossible to believe that when this Australian Test forward last won Origin, he was a wiry, rookie winger. "After winning that Origin series, I didn't enjoy the night, the moment as much as I should've," he says." I enjoyed the game, of course. I can still see 'Freddy' charging down that Darren Lockyer kick; still see him wagging his finger in the air while crossing the tryline like 'we've got this boys, we've won the series'. But afterwards, I didn't sit down and hang around with the boys. All I was thinking about was going back and playing well for Penrith ... I had no understanding of what we'd just done. But now, well, it's different. While NSW would go on to win Origin again the next year, Lewis wasn't there. Nor the four winters after that. And yet, he was. Which is why, while fellow Penrith young guns Joel Clinton, Ben Ross and Luke Rooney basically rose and fell from the representative scene within two years, Louie is still pushing on almost a decade later. "People probably forget but I was the Blues' 18th man for a lot of games," he said. It allowed me to watch how guys prepared, how they defended, passed left to right, the lot. If that didn't happen, if I wasn't watching those guys and working out what made Origin winners ... I don't think I would be here now. So what does make Origin winners? "Hard work," he says. Knowing that when you're training through summer and the legs are tiring, you say 'I wanna play Origin'. Or when your breathing gets heavy and the vomit starts rising, it's 'I wanna play Origin'. That's what I've learnt most since '04. That whenever you're at that point, in training or a game, of thinking 'this is ridiculous' ... that's when you're really preparing for Origin success.