The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

NRL’s half-arsed Heritage Round

6th April, 2014
Advertisement
The Bulldogs take on the Roosters for Friday night footy. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox)
Expert
6th April, 2014
107
2922 Reads

The NRL’s Heritage Round is a chance for rugby league to look back warmly on the past while celebrating its future… for those who can be arsed making the effort, anyway.

Unfortunately for the code and the wonderful Men of League organisation, which lend their name to the round, many clubs approach the fixtures like your perpetually unorganised mate does any sort of gathering.

You know the bloke. Never has any cash for the birthday card. Turns up to a dinner party with two packets of Samboy chips from the servo around the corner. Wear’s his sister’s calisthenics top and an old footy sock with holes cut in it over his face and tells people he’s Spiderman at your Halloween parties.

Sure, not all Heritage round match-ups are created equal. While everybody loves Souths v Dragons reliving the 1965 grand final, the Storm v Titans battle of the torrid Steve Turner contract tussle doesn’t have quite the same historical punch.

Nevertheless, it’s high time we named and shamed the teams who fail to get into the spirit of things. Below is a rundown of the weekend matches with a definitive Heritage ranking.

Roosters versus Bulldogs
A great start to heritage week, with both teams putting on a traditional strip, plenty of grit and keeping the score below double figures with not too many pesky tries. Loses points for the flashy new digs though.

Heritage ranking: 4 magic sponges.

Brisbane versus Parramatta
Deciding it might be fun to remind everyone of the worst period in the history of rugby league, the Broncos decided to trot out a 1997-inspired strip. And fittingly,  like Super League itself, the jersey wasn’t done right (the original had a maroon back) and ended up looking awful.

Advertisement

Parra got into the whole retro thing by actually winning a game away from home.

Heritage ranking: 2.5 magic sponges.

Cronulla versus Warriors
While the Sharks were resplendent in their traditional get-up (they even somehow got rid of all the sponsors!), obviously the Warriors couldn’t find their heritage jersey among the other 12 they will be wearing at some stage this year.

In an effort to make it up to the public though, the Warriors did put in an insipid away performance and then reportedly sack their coach afterwards, which was a nice nod to the franchise’s past.

Heritage ranking: 2 magic sponges.

Penrith versus Canberra
Oh yeah, how good was this! A muddy field, near-empty stands and two teams in colour combinations that off the footy field would get you a life sentence from the fashion police. All it needed was a Colin Van Der Voort cameo and you’d have perfection!

Heritage ranking: 5 magic sponges!

Advertisement

South Sydney versus St George Illawarra
The flagship game of Heritage Round was bizarrely scheduled for a Saturday night, taking a fair bit of the buzz and ‘match of the round’ nostalgia with it. Still, both clubs can be seen to have done the hard yards off the field for the game, even if the Dragons couldn’t do anything on it.

Heritage ranking: 3.5 magic sponges.

Melbourne versus Gold Coast
No, no, no, no, no.

You could almost hear the old timers shaking their heads as injuries were feigned, tries scored willy-nilly and pathetic penalties blown, as the teams conspired to put on the Justin Bieber of rugby league matches.

The water on the concrete changing-room floor however was the fact Melbourne didn’t wear their heritage strip because they’re saving it for “later in the year”, a decision that ranks up there with the final one of the game in the mind-boggling stakes.

And you’d think it’d be the Gold Coast trying to keep their past in the closet.

Heritage ranking: 1 magic sponge

Advertisement

Wests Tigers versus Manly
At a sodden Leichardt, the Wests Tigers put aside their differences to celebrate the joint venture’s history, and with a full hill, a streaker and a differential penalty, the Tigpies’ walk down memory lane was sensational.

Pity the same cannot be said for the Sea Eagles, who, despite wearing their mid-90s strip, seemed to be paying tribute to the Northern Eagles.

Heritage ranking: Wests 5 magic sponges, Manly ½ a soiled sponge.

Can the NRL fix all this inequity and get all the clubs on the same historical page? Or is heritage round something that should be confined to the history books?

close