May
10, 2000 (updated April 2005)
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the inaugural State of
Origin rugby league match, I would like to add my contribution to the growing
list of 'Greatest Ever' sides for the two teams. They have been chosen on
performances in Origin matches and also on how much they typify the spirit of
State of Origin rugby league.
|
NEW SOUTH WALES |
|
QUEENSLAND |
|
Tim Brasher |
1 |
Darren Lockyer (gk) |
|
Timana Tahu |
2 |
Dale Shearer |
|
Matthew Gidley |
3 |
Chris Close |
|
Ryan Girdler |
4 |
Peter Jackson |
|
Michael O'Connor (gk) |
5 |
Brett Dallas |
|
Laurie Daley |
6 |
Wally Lewis (c) |
|
Andrew Johns |
7 |
Allan Langer |
|
Glenn Lazarus |
8 |
Shane Webcke |
|
Ben Elias (c) |
9 |
Wayne Bartrim |
|
Paul Harragon |
10 |
Steve Price |
|
Noel Cleal |
11 |
Trevor Gillmeister |
|
Ben Kennedy |
12 |
Paul Vautin |
|
Luke Ricketson |
13 |
Billy Moore |
|
|
|
|
|
Brad Fittler |
14 |
Kevin Walters |
|
Bradley Clyde |
15 |
Sam Backo |
|
Ian Roberts |
16 |
Martin Bella |
|
Steve Roach |
17 |
Kerrod Walters |
|
Phil Gould |
Coach |
WAYNE
BENNETT |
There aren't really too many surprises here. One might be
the absence of Mal Meninga for Queensland, but I feel that he never stood out
at Origin level as Close and Jackson did so memorably. Wayne Bartrim at hooker
may also be a surprise, but he was one of the heroes of the 1995 series for the
Cane Toads and seemed more passionate about Origin than the better-performed
Steve Walters, who also loses out on a spot to his younger brother Kerrod for
similar reasons.
My memories of State of Origin as a youngster are painful. I
moved from Newcastle to Brisbane in 1986 and was immediately branded a
'cockroach' (the colloquial name for New South Welshmen in these parts) by the
kids at school who, in their defence, were only doing what their fathers were
doing. New South Wales won the first match of the 1987 series and then
proceeded to lose the next eight matches straight. A Queensland win in an
Origin match would inevitably be followed by a bashing at school by young
parochialists keen to find an enemy to assert their dominance over something,
no matter how thin and weak he was.
The best thing to happen to State of Origin was the Super
League war. The result of the ARL / Super League split was that people realised
that these rugby league players were not gods, damn it, they weren't even
heroes. The public realised that their happiness shouldn't depend on the result
of a football game played by a group of money-grabbing mercenaries.
The fervour surrounding State of Origin seems to be slightly
on the rise again, but it won't approach the bad old days of the eighties
again. Queensland has lost a lot of its inferiority complex, largely due to
their success in the Origin, but also now that Brisbane is a much more vibrant
city than it was and isn't constantly trying to prove itself anymore (it's also
full of ex-New South Welshmen!).
To those, however, who still cling to the belief that
getting drunk at the Caxton on Origin night and hurling obscenities at people
whose only fault is to be a talented footballer from another state is a good
way to have fun, I have one thing to say to you; FUCK YOU! You make attending this high quality
sporting event an impossibility for those of us with standards of fairness and
you maintain the inferiority complex that has crippled this part of the world
for so long.
If anyone has any tales of 'cockroaches' being bashed in
Queensland schools for the simple crime of liking a team from somewhere else,
please let me know. I have some scores to settle!
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