More than one stint as a State of Origin coach is a rare thing indeed because rugby league's toughest arena rarely affords second chances.

Over the past 40 years, it's a luxury that's only been afforded to the true icons of interstate football — think Arthur Beetson, Wayne Bennett, Phil Gould and Ricky Stuart.

New Blues coach Laurie Daley, who was appointed on Monday for the 2025 series, fits that same criteria. He is without a doubt one of the greatest players New South Wales has ever known.

He captained Gould's sides to three straight series wins from 1992 to 1994 and stayed an automatic selection when fit and available for almost a decade.

Only two players appeared in more New South Wales wins and only three have more caps to their name. His legacy in that jersey is staggering and it will last forever.

However, all of that was still true the last time he was appointed Blues coach, back in 2013. At the time, Queensland's record-breaking streak seemed almost eternal, so what better man for New South Wales to turn to than Daley, who had embodied so much of what Origin was about?

His record in the next five years was not flattering — one series win and four losses. How you feel about his reappointment likely comes down to how you see the one and the four.

The one was in 2014 and it was magnificent. Daley picked his side on form rather than reputation, infused them with a belief that bordered on fanaticism and was rewarded with a drought-breaking series win that ended Queensland's eight years of dominance.

It's an achievement that is still underrated by many and even if the Blues go on to win multiple series under Daley's new watch, it will always remain his finest hour as a coach and it's the linchpin on which his return is hinged.

But the four lost series loom almost as large, especially given three of them came after that breakthrough triumph. Each of them came differently, sharing only the brutal bleakness of defeat.

The first, in 2015, was the most humiliating. A 52-6 defeat is never acceptable in Origin but to wear such a scoreline in a decider against a team the Blues had beaten both the year before and in Game II of that series is staggering.

The second defeat, in 2016, was the most comprehensive. Were it not for Michael Jennings's try 90 seconds from full-time in the dead rubber, the Blues would have been whitewashed for just the fourth time in Origin history.

The final loss, in 2017, was the most heartbreaking. New South Wales seemed to have the series in their hands after running up a 28-4 win at Lang Park in Game I.

At the time, it was Queensland's worst-ever defeat at their Origin temple, Andrew Fifita was being compared to Arthur Beetson and Origin II in Sydney shaped as a coronation and for 40 minutes, it was.

Up 16-6 at the break, on home soil, with Johnathan Thurston's arm flapping in the breeze following a shoulder injury and the series at their mercy, an all-time triumph beckoned.

It was a joy that turned to poison, as the Blue masses at Stadium Australia were teased with the dream of victory before it turned to ashes right in front of them.

The Blues played a stilting, uncertain second half that ended with Dane Gagai scoring late on and Thurston nailing a 78th-minute sideline conversion for the win. He was so busted he couldn't raise his arms to celebrate but Queensland were still alive.

There was still a decider to be played but the series ended that night. Andrew Johns railed against the team's game plan on the post-match coverage, calling it "the dumbest half New South Wales have ever played" and expressing disbelief they didn't go at Thurston again and again with the cruel mercilessness that so often delivers Origin victories.

Team discipline disintegrated in the lead-up to Game III and Queensland waltzed to a 22-6 win that secured their third series win in a row. It was the second time under Daley the Blues had surrendered a 1-0 series lead.

He was not retained and Brad Fittler took over and after he blooded a record 11 debutants for Game I the following year, a host of players who were Origin regulars under Daley never played for their state again.

It was the start of something new and fresh and vibrant and New South Wales went on to win three of the next four series, their best run since the early 2000s.

History and tradition are incredibly important to Origin. What happened in the past informs where New South Wales and Queensland are now, which then determines the future.

The Blues' greatest weakness is how quickly they forget and the Maroons' greatest strength is how they always remember. In Origin, you can't know where you're going until you're sure where you've been.

Daley may well prove to be an inspired choice given the rollicking Blues victory in this series and the set-up he's inheriting from Michael Maguire. But that's yet to be decided and all we have now is what he's already been.

As Daley's reappointment gained momentum, his first stint was re-contextualised as some kind of noble failure, a valiant effort against an inevitable Maroon tide that with its host of future Immortals could not truly be stopped.

But that does Daley a disservice while excusing his teams' shortcomings.

If the Queensland victories were inevitable and the Maroons could not be beaten, the Blues wouldn't have won in 2014.

If the New South Wales cause was truly hopeless, they wouldn't have had the series at their mercy in 2017.

His record was six wins and nine losses, his teams' triumphs came from the heart and their failures came in the mind.

Daley's strengths as a coach the first time around were his passion, his presence and his understanding of what the sky-blue jersey meant. He was, and is, a man people want to follow.

But there were weaknesses in there as well. There were selections that were difficult to understand, especially around his playmakers, where a steadfast commitment to picking Mitchell Pearce grew to define his tenure.

A lack of experience as a top-level coach (even now, Daley has only coached 32 games in his career) also came through at times.

But the bottom line is this: the Blues had their chances at victory during Daley's five years in charge before and could only take one of them.

In 2025, they'll likely have another chance. This isn't like the first time, when the Blues had been beaten down for so long they needed to rediscover who they were.

Daley played a huge role in that as he led his state to the promised land he knew so well as a player.

But now, Maguire leaves New South Wales in good shape after orchestrating a stirring series win this year, capped with just the third Blues victory in a Lang Park decider in Origin history.

The Blues will likely enter Origin I next year as favourites. With an established group of players, many of whom are in the thick of their prime, the possibility of a sustained and brutal revenge on Queensland is there for Daley.

Whether he can take it remains uncertain. Last time around, he was a builder and what he built, as tall as it momentarily stood, did not last.