'Couldn't think of a better place to die': How QLD legend risked death ...

Former Queensland skipper Trevor Gillmeister has relived the story of how he risked death to get out of a hospital bed and lead the Maroons to a 3-0 whitewash of the Blues in 1995.

Gillmeister cut his knee in Queensland’s win in game two at the MCG to give the Maroons a 2-0 lead.

“I got stood on in Melbourne at the MCG and I got a bit of a cut inside my knee,” Gillmeister said on Fox Sports’ The Back Page.

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“I remember going to training and my knee used to blow up a bit anyway, so I didn’t take too much notice of it.

“You just pop a few more anti-inflammatory drugs and see how you go.

“So I kept doing that and I probably did it a bit too much. But I went to the doctor and said, mate can you give me something for this little nick I have got on my knee.

“Roy Saunders was the Queensland doctor for years and he said, Gilly you are kidding me you have got blood poisoning. Blood poisoning is a bad infection.

“So he took me to the hospital and he said, you have got blood poisoning so you have got to stay in hospital for a couple of days.

“So I stayed in hospital for a couple of days and came out the day of the game.”

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Gillmeister recalled a crunch meeting with Queensland coach Paul Vautin as the Maroons had to make a call on if their captain would take the field.

“I remember Choppy (Close) and the late great Dick Tosser Turner and Fatty (Vautin) was in my room and they had to make a decision on the team.

“They brought a shadow player in Brett Hornsell. Fatty asked the doctor, what is the worst scenario? He said, poison could go through his system and he could die.

“Chris Close went, shit that’s no good. Then he said, well I couldn’t think of a better place to die than Lang Park.

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“Choppy said, it was a cemetery once you know.

“Fatty said, mate if I had an opportunity to captain Queensland and hold that Shield around and win 3-0, I said I would be going out to play.

“I said, well why didn’t you say that two hours ago, so let’s go and get it sorted.

“I had a couple of bucks on us so I wanted to win.”