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Last Wednesday night at approximately 10:15pm, one of the great droughts in Australian sporting history was broken when New South Wales ended eight years of State of Origin misery, defeating Queensland 6-4.
With this series win, their first since 2005, talks are now underway to erect a statue of a victorious Paul Gallen at Homebush.
I can understand the emotion surrounding the idea, given he has busted his gut since debuting in 2006. He has been an inspiration for his state in many series defeats, but a statue? Really?
Let’s go through the facts.
This man has played in nine State of Origin series, losing eight and winning one. He will play in perhaps another one before hanging up the boots. One series win out of nine (so far).
Remember that this man is the captain of a club under investigation by ASADA for allegedly using banned substances. Can you imagine the laughter from across the world if this statue was erected and he was later found, along with the rest of the club, to be found guilty?
He would be, under the eyes of the law, a drug cheat.
Also, it was only just one series win. I very much doubt there is enough material to erect statues of all the players who were apart of the eight straight series wins for the Maroons.
Let’s compare the feats of Gallen to that of the three men who have statues outside Suncorp Stadium: Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer and Mal Meninga.
They don’t call Wally ‘The King’ for nothing. From 1980-1991, Lewis was the main man behind eight series wins for Queensland, winning eight man-of-the-match awards from 30 appearances. He was, and will be, the greatest player to ever pull on an origin jersey.
Lockyer was one of the best players of the modern era, dominating as a fullback in the early part of his career before switching to five-eighth. He won 10 Origin series, captaining his side in six of those. He is a future immortal of the game.
As for Meninga, his deeds have largely been highlighted by steering this current squad to eight straight series wins, one of the great feats in Australian sporting history and a record that will never be broken. As a player he won eight series.
I am not underestimating the magnitude of the win by the Blues on Wednesday night, and Gallen in particular, but there are plenty of statues that could, and should, be erected before Gallen.
Some examples are John Aloisi scoring that penalty against Uruguay in 2005, Scott Sattler and that tackle on Todd Byrne in the 2003 NRL grand final and in the same year, Jonny Wilkinson and that field goal against the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup.
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