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For the 14th time in the last 19 games, the Queensland Maroons have been gifted victory by way of devious cheating.
The treachery, which carried Queensland to a thoroughly undeserved 18-10 victory in front of an uninterested, Origin-hating Melbourne crowd of 53,000, has served to once again highlight the old truism that nice guys (like Ricky Stuart and Paul Gallen) finish last.
Poor old NSW, led by the saintly captain-coach duo, stood tall as representatives of all that is fair and good and decent about sport, while maroon-clad villains shamelessly exploited the bias and weakness of all rugby league officialdom to claim the win.
NSW’s ball movement was stunningly slick against the clueless Maroon defence. Mitchell Pearce showed once again what a young star he is, Jarryd Hayne was a mind-blowing superman, Greg Bird was heroic and magnificent, Todd Carney was spectacular, and Paul Gallen led from the front with honour, integrity and respect.
Queensland, comparatively, were sluggish with the ball in hand and defensively weak against the marching band of blue-clad ultramen. I agree with Roy Masters, Queensland probably shouldn’t even bother showing up for Game 2. This NSW team is amazing!
Or so it seemed for a few brief, sad hours on Wednesday morning (Toronto time), before I managed to track down a pub showing a replay of the game.
Up until that happy coming together of the day’s first pint with the game’s first hit-up, I’d been forced to rely solely on Facebook updates and the Sydney Morning Herald (I don’t read Courier Mail) for news of all things Blue and Maroon.
After seeing the game however, I had a slightly different perspective.
For instance, for all their supposedly brilliant ball movement, NSW only managed two tries from kicks (neither of which was particularly clean anyway), while Queensland’s stiff, predictable backline (featuring a number of the game’s all-time greats) produced two classic sweeping movements to reach the line.
Furthermore, Michael Jennings actually deserved his sin-binning (you can’t sprint in and throw wild blindside punches and expect to get away with it), and the final Inglis try, while a bit of a head-scratcher, did not change the result. Queensland were actually ahead at that stage…
Now, apparently Ricky Stuart – the same man previously sacked from both his clubs for being a poor coach, and his Australia post for being a sore loser and all-round hateful person – is considering quitting his job in protest.
Protest against what exactly? Coming up against a better side?
This would be the move of a remarkably bitter, twisted and delusional human being. This is not the action of the saintly, rugby league-loving rogue that The Daily Telegraph, in particular, had me believing him to be.
Surely the Ricky Stuart portrayed within their pages would be too busy teaching the homeless how to throw a flick pass, or showing underpriveleged children how to kick a drop goal, to get so worked up about a perceived refereeing mistake (that didn’t actually change the result).
Or perhaps I am being unfair. Perhaps Queensland’s dominance is indeed the result of some bizarre anti-NSW conspiracy (perpetrated, shockingly, by the NSW-dominated rugby league administration).
Perhaps this conspiracy, which has so far seen matches taken to Queensland-loving Melbourne and referees placed under strict orders to ensure Queensland win, has spread so far that even NSW’s players have been drawn in.
Todd Carney’s succession of knock-ons and missed touch-finders are clear proof of this; the man is also clearly in on the Maroon payroll! The same could also perhaps be said of Akuile Uate, who let tryscoring dud Darius Boyd outside him twice.
Not content with stealing the best Blue talent, Queensland are now paying off those left behind to play poorly! The more I think about it the more it makes sense.
Queensland, you fiends! You evil, cheating, horrible fiends!
Ricky has had enough and I can’t blame him. The stench of Maroonyness has grown too strong in rugby league. It sickens me. If the NSW rugby league had given me a rich, six-figure salary to work three weeks a year, I’d quit it too. That’d teach those bastards for not supporting me! Go forth Ricky, you inspiration.
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