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Laurie Spina was always a stand-out player as a junior in the Herbert River competition and in his first Foley Shield match against the Shield holders,
Mt Isa, he took out the man of the match award. He was a fixture in the undefeated Herbert River tean that made the dramatic drawn 1982 Foley Shield final.
After the final, the Sydney talent scouts pencilled his name down and the next season, 1983, he played for North Sydney. After two seasons with the Bears,
Spina moved to Eastern Suburbs where he stayed until 1989. In 1987 many judges thought Spina would wear the Maroon for Queensland in the State of Origin
series after playing
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in the 'New South Wales Maroons' team against the 'Queensland Maroons ' in a much-publicised match at Lang Park. In that match he played alongside Sam Backo, another Ingham product, but it was a young Ipswich player, Alan Langer took his chance to grab the Queensland number seven jersey. After spending the 1990 season with Cronulla he moved back to
North Queensland and once again played for Herbert River. His form stayed with him and when the Cowboys entered the Australian Rugby League competition in
1995, Spina again played the game at the top level when he joined the Townsville-based newcomers.
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