July 9, 2026 — 3:30pmObserving Laurie Daley’s NSW team in the hours before the deciding third game of the State of Origin series, Stuart Diver was convinced they were going to come out on top against the odds.The sole survivor of the 1997 Thredbo landslide tragedy had been invited into the Blues camp to share his courageous tale and inspire Daley’s players to never give up.Stuart Diver with NSW coach Laurie Daley after the Blues’ win at Suncorp Stadium.AAPIMAGESitting in the NSW coaching box as they completed a backs-against-the-wall series triumph over Queensland at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, Diver’s message sure seemed to have hit home.“I could see it at the hotel … they just had that single belief yesterday that they were going to win,” Diver said on Thursday. “You could just see there was this calmness in them. They’d trained, they’d done everything they needed to do, but they all had that inner strength that they were going to win.”A friend of NSW assistant coach Matt King, Diver joined the celebrations on Wednesday night as Blues captain Isaah Yeo lifted the State of Origin shield before returning to his day job as general manager of Thredbo resort.The former ski instructor spent 65 hours trapped in the rubble at Thredbo during the 1997 disaster, which left 18 people dead, including his wife Sally.Stuart Diver emerges on August 2, 1997 after spending 65 trapped in rubble. Mike BowersWith Daley searching for a way to give his team an edge against Billy Slater’s Queensland, NSW turned to Diver.“When you get into these sort of camps, you talk about ‘why is it important to you that you play well for NSW’? Why was it important for Stuey to stay alive? This is the thing that got me … Stuey spoke about how he wanted to tell his wife’s parents ‘I was with her when she died… I did everything that I could and I was there for her’,” Daley said on the Sky Sports Radio show he co-hosts on Thursday.“That was quite emotional. [He] spoke about moments and how you get through it and what your mind goes through. You need to stay present and you’ve got to find the ‘why’ to survive, the ‘why’ to be successful. It was just amazing when he spoke. We got a lot out of it.”Diver addressed the squad on the NSW Central Coast on the first day they assembled before game one in May, which the Blues won with a record comeback win against a 12-man Queensland after fullback Kalyn Ponga was sent off.Matt King, Stuart Diver and Laurie Daley at Suncorp Stadium last night.It was instructive that Daley had him in the inner sanction again this week. The coach and team were under intense scrutiny and given little chance following a deflating performance in the second game in Melbourne last month that levelled the series at 1-1.“I’m not claiming it obviously,” Diver said. “It was just nice to be able to play a really small part in that mental preparation because we know that is key.“You need to believe in yourself. I had a belief in myself when everything seemed lost and I was in a dire situation - that inner strength came through and I was able to live.“I said to them even when your backs are against the wall and you’re 20 points down you’ve still got to have that belief in yourself. That’s what we really worked on, getting that inner strength. We saw it in the second half in the first game and it worked really well last night. It was a pretty cool feeling being there last night and seeing it come off.”Diver’s football loyalty has largely sat with the Geelong Cats, his team in the AFL, but he has now forged an inescapable bond with the Blues.Daley, who wore sustained criticism during the series and is set to end his second stint as NSW coach as a winner, also left a mark on him.From our partners