By The Roar
May 20th 2008 @ 8:12am
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The state of biff: Best stinks in the State of Origin
The State of Origin has featured the biff from the time in the first match Artie Beetson (Queensland) belted one of his club team-mates playing for NSW. Here’s a video of what may be called the ’state of biff’ series.
The call of ‘Queenslander’ is the fuel to many Origin biffs. In an age of cynical professionalism, the ‘Queenslander’ cry is a welcome injection of passion into the game.
Put the link to any State of Origin moments you find on YouTube in the comments below.
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![Last year, some friends and I settled in at the Oaks in Neutral Bay preparing to watch a Tri-Nations match over a few lagers. There we sat, the repartee flowing back and forth, and the schooners of sponsors product lubricating the collective tonsils to monumental feats of rugby recall.
Every second story began with “Remember [...] Andrew Logan: Ireland Vs Australia, the greatest moment](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/top-five-sportsmen-david-campese-th.jpg)
![It’s a hotly contested Top 5 this week as we take a look at sportspeople who have lost the plot during their careers to such an extent that they’ve landed themselves in jail. There are many unworthy candidates, so I’ve stuck to one per sport. I welcome your additions and suggestions.
1. Greg Bird (c)
Demonstrated [...] Andrew Jones: The Top 5 Jailbirds In Sport](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/top-5-jailbirds-greg-bird-th.jpg)
![Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has been campaigning for the introduction of some form of increase to the number of players on the bench for some time. He got his wish in the NAB Cup, if only in the form of a trial.
The pre-season rule allowed for an additional two players, known as substitutes, on the [...] Michael DiFabrizio: Bench the current system, bring in the substitutes](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/bench-current-system-th.jpg)
![We often assume media interest is a barometer of a sports’ popularity. If it’s not at the forefront of priorities for newspaper editors and newsroom producers, then it must not be important and entertaining enough to warrant sufficient media and public interest.
But that logic, in my mind, is flawed.
Rather, it’s the media that is dictating [...] Adrian Musolino: The media dictates the popularity of sports in Australia](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/lleyton-hewitt-th.jpg)
![Dear Sonny Bill, or perhaps that should be Bonjour! I’m writing to you to congratulate you on achieving what your manager Khoder Nassar proclaimed was your goal when you left rugby league: to “transcend sport”.
Judging by the papers I think we can down tools and say ‘job well done.’
The single minded obsession that burdens [...] Steve Kaless: An open letter to Sonny Bill Williams](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/an-open-letter-sonny-bill-williams-th.jpg)
![There was jubilation this week as I flipped over the newspaper to find the words “troubled footballer”, “nightclub” and “urinate” co-located in a sentence! It was the perfect opportunity to bust out a team that a couple of mates and myself have selected and re-selected many times over the years.
With its genesis in some [...] Andrew Jones: The Nitespots XI, part one](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/craig_gower-photo-th.jpg)
![The voting outcome of the 2009 John Eales Medal, voted for by the players, and for the Australia’s Choice Wallaby of the Year award, voted for by the public online, provides an insight into the mentality and playing strength of the Wallabies as they begin their Spring Tour.
Matt Giteau was the winner of the John [...] Spiro Zavos: 1984 Grand Slam will be hard for Wallabies to match](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1984-grand-slam-wallabies-th.jpg)
![Are the Australian selectors expressing the growing concerns of the greater national cricket punditry by giving Brad Haddin a match in charge of the international team?
Haddin had shown for a number of years at New South Wales that he had the tactical and leadership nous to be a skipper at the elite level. In [...] Geoff Lawson: ACB have had enough of blonde tips and sports cars](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/why-clarke-haddin-th.jpg)
![Groundsmen around the world, please note: bowlers do exist. But the way you are preparing the pitches, they may become extinct. Ditto for Test cricket.
I realise you must be under instructions to prepare a pitch like a billiard table so that it lasts for five days and more spectators turn up to swell the organisers’ [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: There’s too many tall scores and small thinking](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tall-scores-small-thinking-tendulkar-th.jpg)
![It may seem like a ridiculous question at first glance, especially to the blue-collar worker who battles for every dollar, but it is worth exploring. The average AFL wage is $230,000 per season. While appearing exorbitant – it is not a pittance either – the figure is hardly enormous when you compare it with other [...] Luke D'Anello: At an average of $230,000, are AFL players underpaid?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/grant-birchall-hawthorn-th.jpg)
![After almost 20,000 fans packed out Christchurch’s AMI Stadium for last weekend’s Wellington-Adelaide clash, many pundits have been asking whether the South Island’s largest city should be a site for future A-League expansion.
Last Saturday’s brilliant crowd turn-out definitely suggests there is an appetite for football in Christchurch, and with a population of just under 400,000 [...] Ben Somerford: Can NZ accommodate a second A-League team?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wellington-phoenix-tim-brown-th.jpg)
![Expansion hasn’t been the golden ticket to significantly better crowd figures with a below 10,000 average crowd for the last round highlighting the complexities of drawing punters at this time of the year. But rather than being the ticket to better crowds, expansion is partly the reason for the deplorable crowds in Brisbane.
Brisbane came into [...] Adrian Musolino: FFA needs to reconsider expansion plans for 2010/11](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ffa-needs-reconsider-th.jpg)




Kento said | May 20th 2008 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Gordon Tallis’ famous tackle on Brett Hodgson
Eddey said | May 20th 2008 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
Obviously Tallis has a brain, as its all common sense… Not like todays players…
Harry said | May 20th 2008 @ 4:16pm | Report comment
The fight in Melbourne in 1995 was a doozy.
Glenn Condell said | May 20th 2008 @ 5:43pm | Report comment
Geyer v Lewis – though I don’t think it went as far as punches. Wally was not a man to back down, and neither was MG, who with Sirro and Roberts and others, put on one of the best defensive performances I can remember. Dunno what year it was – probably 91 or 92.
DT said | May 20th 2008 @ 7:13pm | Report comment
Technically it’s not State of Oirigin, because it happened in 1977, but you can’t go past Tommy Raudonikis replacing Steve Mortimer late in the second half with the Blues behind in a low scoring game; Tommy has run up to the Queensland half back Greg Oliphant, who was down with an injury, pushed away the St. Johns ambulance bloke who was administering treatment, and started punching Oliphant in the head. That sparked the Blues up, and Tommy scored a try to win the game minutes later.
sheek said | May 20th 2008 @ 8:45pm | Report comment
Glenn,
Interesting study of psychology, Lewis v Geyer. If anyone blinked, it was Geyer. I think Geyer was totally dumbfounded that anyone could be so crazy to take him on, & I don’t think he had ever received so much invective in so short a space of time. I think he was still trying to make sense of it when half-time was called.
Geyer was stronger than Lewis, no doubt about it. But Lewis was cunning like the devil. He knew his mark. The idea was to throw so much invective at Geyer as to shock him. I think it worked, although half-time allowed Geyer to regather his thoughts.
Once Lewis calmed down he probably thought, “thank God he didn’t swing at me”. But Lewis had the ability to imtimidate players bigger & stronger through his tongue. He exuded a ’scorched earth’ persona. He basically said to guys like Geyer, “you might beat me to a pulp, but I’ll damage you in the process also”.
After his playing days, at the Broadbeach Pacific Fair, I saw Lewis absolutely destroy this 30-40s something woman, with his invective, believing she had taken the carpark spot he was about to move into. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, but she couldn’t drive away quickly enough, sobbing as she went.
Glenn Condell said | May 21st 2008 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Bruce
I can’t remember Geyer taking a backward step but yes, I seem to recall him being shell-shocked by the Lewis barrage. Who wouldn’t be?
Part of Lewis’s greatness lay in this utter refusal to lie down. One of the best games he ever played for the Roos was in a losing side v the Poms. He was so upset with the lethargy of his players he took the opposition on himself, at one stage scoring a stunning try by simply rampaging thru the Pom forwards like an enraged bowling ball, planting he ball defiantly under the sticks. The others lifted but not enough.
I wouldn’t argue with him about a car-park!