REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday May 27, 2004

IN the end it really didn’t matter who won – there was more than that at stake in the opening State of Origin match at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium.

League’s annual showpiece was all about the code’s redemption after misery piled on misery cast a pall of disgrace on what many still call “the greatest game of all”.

Queensland and NSW put all that behind them for 83 nailbiting minutes and turned on a glorious display of all that is good about rugby league … and all that was good about most of the men who play the game.

It wasn’t a match that went down in Origin history as a glittering showpiece, nor was it a game that scaled great heights, but it was a contest that proved that skill, courage and commitment will always prevail over biff, bash and bad manners.

For the record, NSW kept alive their Telstra Stadium winning streak and emerged 9-8 winners, but both sides walked off the field as victors on the night.

It was fitting the outcome the match should be decided by a single golden point slotted by Shaun Timmins three minutes into extra time. His drop goal sealed it for the home side and gutted the Maroons, but it was an accurate mirror of an evenly matched contest that could have gone either way.

Prophets of doom who predicted a fiery grudge match were disappointed. Those who said the Blues would never recover from the scandals that have enveloped many of their players were disappointed.