My state of excitement
Fresh from the pineapple state, Geelong Advertiser journalist JACOB GRAMS gives us a bona fide canetoad’s insight into why tomorrow night’s Origin II against the cockroaches means so much ...
STATE of Origin will draw some of you in tomorrow night for a bit of novelty value but, as an unabashed Queenslander, let me fill you in on why rugby league’s greatest spectacle is like no other.
Having recently joined the team at the Addy and moved to Geelong from canetoad country, I have come to fully expect league is very low on the interest list, except for the bash, barge and lightning pace of a classic Origin encounter.
But I’d say half of you scratch your heads about why the NRL throws its product out the window, and players forget about preserving their bodies for the club who pay their weekly wage, for three games a year.
For years, prior to 1980 when the concept was launched, Queensland was the whipping boy of NSW — the so-called ‘home’ of rugby league. It’d lure the best players from across the state to the Sydney clubs then hand them a blue jersey to wear while they battered the then-hapless Queenslanders.
To put it in Cats-speak, think of the hurt when Paul Chapman turned up in a Bombers guernsey, and then also imagine that he singlehandedly played Geelong off the park.
The years of torture became too much for officials north of the border by 1980 and they forced the State of Origin concept.
The eligibility rules now are far too convoluted, but essentially players were able to represent the places that shaped their rugby league career.
But since the Maroons have dominated Origin for 11 of the past 12 years, maybe NSW fans kind of know how Queenslanders feel. From my biased point of view, they will never truly understand.
Maybe, finally, they are starting to get it.
Victorians get it more than the Blues do, just judging by the intense tribalism in footy. The Cats lift with the passion of the fans every year. A win makes your week. A loss ruins your weekend.
If Queensland can’t hold off its biggest threat since 2006, when it was staring down the barrel of four straight series losses, I’ll be hurting for 11 months.
The importance of State of Origin has been ingrained in me. Sky blue is banned in my house, at least this weekend. And I’m nervous. Queensland made a lot of mistakes in game one and is pinning hopes on one 20-yearold called Kalyn Ponga, on debut, to make a difference.
Billy Slater is back to marshall the defence and if the Maroons are to win it will be a low-scoring affair.
But, for me, it doesn’t matter how low the score, or whether it’s entertaining, failure is not an option and that’s exactly what the players will be thinking, with those who endured 70 years of shellackings in the back of their mind.