“I loved reading Marooned… a heartfelt walk down memory lane.” —John Eales, Queensland Legend and Wallabies Icon
“There’s much in Marooned that inspired me, and I’m sure will inspire you.” —Ben Ikin, Maroon Legend & CEO Qld Rugby League
“By far the best book about State of Origin I’ve ever read… [it] will hit you right in the heart. Very highly recommended.” —Michael Gerard Bauer, Prime Minister’s Literary Award Winner
“A lively coming of age story by a Queenslander raised by State of Origin.” —Joe Gorman, Award Winning Author of Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland
Marooned
A Memoir of Fandom, Fatherhood, And the Far Side of the World
Darren Groth
Hawkeye Publishing | 20 May 2026 | $34.99 | Original Paperback
We all have an Origin story.
On June 8, 2022, in a Vancouver townhouse, Darren Groth gathers with his family – his elderly parents and two younger brothers – to watch an early morning replay of the year’s opening State of Origin. The occasion is full of unknowns. Uncertain of the result, unsure when they’ll travel from the four corners of the globe and meet again – and, due to the incurable cancer in his father’s blood – fearing this may be the last time he gets to watch a Maroons game with him.
Marooned uses this crossroads moment as the spur to look back on Darren’s lifelong love of the Queensland rugby league team and explore the role it has played in shaping and affirming his identity. Written as a chronological series of funny, thoughtful and accessible essays, the memoir chronicles the author’s unique journey as a Maroon devotee, the highs and lows on and off the field, the key place the team has occupied in the relationship with his father and disabled son, and its necessity in connecting him to his state of origin while living far from home.
Marooned is a moving, funny, and deeply heartfelt memoir of fathers and sons, love of team, and love of state. Spanning five decades of Queensland rugby league devotion – from dusty backyards in Hughenden to frosty mornings in Canada – it’s a story about belonging, resilience, and the ties that bind us across distance, hardship, and time.
Darren Groth will be in Australia on publication
DARREN GROTH is the author of nine novels including Kindling, Are You Seeing Me? Exchange of Heart and his most recent North American work, Boy in the Blue Hammock. He is an Adelaide Festival Award for Literature winner, a two-time finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards, and a past nominee for numerous other prestigious prizes, among them the CBCA Book of the Year, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, The Text Prize, and the Governor General’s Literary Awards in Canada. He has written for newspapers, magazines and literary journals including The Courier-Mail, The Sun-Herald, Mamamia, The Lifted Brow and Syntax. He will always believe Queensland was robbed by Mark McGaw’s match-winning try in Game 1 of the 1987 State of Origin series. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
