If Origin match #100 went down as the greatest in history, then #101 should go down as the worst.
Perhaps not with long-suffering NSW fans, who would have taken anything provided it broke the Queensland streak, but the game was an embarrassment.
The tedious 50 minutes between telecast start and kick-off is always terrible, so nothing new there. Advance Australia Fair was made the national anthem in 1984, so the 30-year anniversary is a perfect time to improvise and change the words to state the obvious that Australia has ‘gold and soil’.
Origin is touted as the jewel in the rugby league crown, the pinnacle to which players aspire and the showpiece of the game. The first half of this game was a boring cheap shot-athon. Every tackle came with extras – a facial, a choke, an elbow across the head, a leg twist.
League came second to winning a fight where you aren’t allowed to throw punches.
Origin is meant to be tough, but this was thuggery with a ball.
After the Brent Tate media brouhaha between games, when he took the ball NSW deliberately lifted him again, showing the Blues didn’t have their minds on football and were overcooked on hype.
The referees turned a blind eye to most things, largely allowed the on-ground assaults to go unpunished, meaning the play the balls were slow and the defence had plenty of time to reset and get ready for the next runner to maul.
It was a great advertisement for AFL, or soccer, or tennis, or chess, or that thing where they spend a lot of time sweeping the ice.
In the second half the teams remembered there was a ball they could do stuff with, but forgot how. The completion rate from both sides would have made the Raiders blush and the Russian goalkeeper look sure handed. Certainly several levels below what you’d expect from the most skilful players in the game.
The NSW attacking sets on the Queensland line consisted of alternating between Paul Gallen and Greg Bird walking very slowly towards the opposition line, while the backline caught colds checking out each others’ tatts. That’s when Bird wasn’t dropping the ball on the first tackle, Will Hoppoate being bundled into touch or Josh Reynolds throwing it away yet again. You get the picture.
NSW weren’t the only culprits, with Sam Thaiday butchering the series-levelling try and Dave Taylor throwing a no look pass to the touch judge in what’s surely his last appearance for Queensland (again).
Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe it was all a ploy to lull the Queenslanders to sleep, as when Gallen lined up outside Trent Hodkinson in the 70th minute, the Maroon defenders flocked to the NSW captain, expecting his 85th carry while the inside defender was having a bit of a snooze. Hodkinson forever consigned Mitchell Pearce to the ex-Origin player category by sneaking over for the try and potting the nerve-tingling match-winning conversion.
Man of the match and all NSW hail the woman in the yellow dress.
Mitchell Pearce record at Origin level: 25per cent.
Trent Hodkinson record at Origin level: 100 per cent.
The result was a historic and jubilant one for NSW, but the game itself was forgettable.
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