In all areas of society, we often find people and institutions that seem to be considered beyond the glare of harsh examination.
Public opinion consists of certain narratives that drown out any critical analysis of seemingly untouchable subjects, focusing instead on easy targets deemed acceptable for challenge by the powers that be.
Rugby league has its own sacred cows, the most sanctified of which must be State of Origin, its ‘showpiece’.
An event that, for all the hype, is not what it used to be.
How could it be? Origin began with a passion and ferocity uniquely suited to the era of its birth. The players of that time had lived through one-sided interstate series since they were born, with NSW able to pick anyone playing in the Sydney competition. Most of today’s players were not even alive when Game 1 lifted off in 1980.
Victory in State of Origin is not primarily based on ‘desire’, despite all the empty rhetoric spouted by journalists, commentators and even former players. It hasn’t been for a long time. Success in the representative arena is based on identical factors to club football: given a relatively equal level of emotional commitment to the game at hand (‘passion’), the team with superior talent will prevail in most cases.
When it started 32 years ago, this clearly was not the case. In the early to mid-80s, Queensland players like Wally Lewis, Arthur Beetson, Chris Close and Paul Vautin excelled in large part to abnormally high levels of desire and will, and the same could be said for Steve Mortimer in 1985 when he led NSW to their initial series win.
The fractious tour of New Zealand that year, featuring bitter hostilities in camp between players of the rival states illustrate the intensity of that era. When was the last time interstate rivalries between Test players arose on a Kangaroo campaign?
As the 90s came around, several factors emerged which began to dull the gladiatorial nature of State of Origin, slowly turning it into the skilful, entertaining yet emotionally neutral event that it is today.
League began to clean itself up, banishing the high shot, cracking down on brawls and eradicating indiscretions in the play-the-ball that had often sparked violence. The arrival of the Broncos meant that the fun of unknown Brisbane club players being called up to the season’s biggest games was gone.
But the biggest change was fulltime professionalism. Players now were thinking of their livelihoods. They were no longer plumbers or office workers ready to fling themselves into the history books with no thought for bodily preservation.
A professional approach carried with it a more realistic, less idealistic outlook, resulting in a new awareness that this was indeed a game, a game that provided a living, and the men wearing the other jumper were fellow tradesmen, not enemy tribesmen to be wiped out.
1995 was the last year where a rare passion, lifting ordinary players to a special plane, was on display. The Queensland team had been decimated by the Broncos’ defection to Super League, and coach Paul Vautin was handed a bunch of fringe players. They went on to beat a decent, though not full-strength, NSW team 3-0.
That was the dividing line for this writer. Since then, we have all continued to enjoy State of Origin for the extremely fast, intense, skilful rollercoaster that it is.
But it’s not about passion. Let’s not self-delude. One only has to look at the results to affirm that the more talented team wins, almost all of the time. NSW dominated from 1992 through ’96 – they had better players, Queensland had lost Wally Lewis. Queensland slaughtered the Blues in 1988 and 89 – their team was freakish in those years. NSW in the early 2000s regained the ascendancy, with Fittler, Johns and Buderus leading the way.
Game 1 told a similar story. Beyond the overdone refereeing controversy, NSW had very few line breaks in the game. Queensland looked dangerous every time they penetrated into Blues territory. They scored tries from skilful backline movements. When Greg Inglis touched down in controversial circumstances in the 73rd minute, Queensland were already ahead and had managed to travel down the field to give themselves a chance to seal it.
We need to see Origin in a different light. It doesn’t carry the same resonance, and the biggest reason for this is the rise in quality of club football. It’s time to celebrate the great games we see on a regular basis. The recent Manly-Brisbane game at Suncorp was at Origin level for speed, skill and theatre. The gap between the best NRL games and State of Origin has narrowed considerably since 1980. This is fantastic news.
Emotional scars heal, times change, perspectives shift. State of Origin is a highlight of the rugby league season, but it is not what it used to be. It has ironically returned to the dynamic prevalent in the old, lopsided interstate games – the team with the superior talent wins.
Mac
Guest
LOL!
Ronnie the Eel
Guest
Sorry MG, don't mean to be pedantic, but I'll just copy and paste from your previous post a few words, "the brutality and genuine rivalry of those early games has been replaced by speed, skill and athleticism,.."....
Ceebow
Guest
I think Gallen was more Angry than passionate in game 1 lol.
Mac
Guest
Totally disagree that the passion has gone from SOO and reading your article I'm struggling to find where you draw this conclusion from. SOO games are still a big step up in intensity and pace from a regular club match and you would only have to watch game 1 last week to notice that. Sighting the era of professionalism and suggesting that plumbers and office workers are more likely to fling himself into the record books and have less regard for their body says more about your attitude towards skilled labour than anything else. You also mentioned less foul play and a few selection issues (because of which the rules of eligibility are now being looked at to correct this problem ) but I still don;t see any evidence of the passion being removed from SOO. I know I certainly feel it and ask P Gallen or D Lockyer and I think they still feel it too...
Tony Archers Maroon Underwear
Guest
My beef is that News Ltd a morally bankrupt organization has ended up with too much power in the game to the point where they own Clubs, half the game most of the mainstream media that covers the game and have managed to stack the NRL with News appointees. Go and have a look at what they've done in the UK, invading the privacy of grieving family's for fun, deleting messages of a murdered childs mobile and all the corporate dirty tricks depts that are now coming to light, and their grubby paw prints are all over the game now The News Ltd culture delivered to RL fans the salary cap rorting at their club Storm, which has basically turned the last 6 or so years of the competition into a joke they really have ripped the entire RL communitee off and been alowed to get away with it. The News virus has infected Origin I feel sorry for Qld as what should be a great period for them is when viewed with a bit of distance tainted by the simple dot to dot of News Ltd teams Broncos / Storm......Salary Cap Rorting......Origin/NRL success
Australian Rules
Guest
Refreshing views from a Sydney media "pro"... But we were'nt talking about big Sydney derbies "played at peak times" or on stand alone days like ANZAC Day were we?...we're talking about derbies (and other big games) played while Origin is on. The standard doesn't go down but the interest definitely does, from both public and media. Some Syd games over the past 2 weeks: StG v Souh - 14,894 Cant v Cro - 12,012 StG v Parr - 12,756 Sou v Rai - 10,054 Even the Friday games: WT v NZ - 16,406 Melb v Bris - 13,200 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_NRL_season_results http://stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/2012.html#11 Cantebury and Souths are the two "big crowd" Sydney clubs and they had 12 & 10 in an 80k stadium. As for the "sham" that was the AFL Model, games in the late 80s were attracting crowds of 90,000. That said, there's no doubt the NRL took the idea and improved on it. My point is, it grew so much that today it blacks out the premiership competition. We hear talk of Origin selection from Round 1, and then when it completely dominates coverage. Hard to argue that "strengthens" the home and away season.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Ceebow, way too cynical. And by the way, any team that is so psychologically weak they can't win away, doesn't deserve to be there. You should expect more from your state's players.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
While I'm glad you agree with one aspect of my article Tony, you've gone off the reservation on the rest. Why the obsession with News Ltd? Yes, I know the Super League war happened but as soon as the best players play for other clubs, the QLD selectors will pick them. Scrapping Origin is just crazy. And no, Origin is not boring. The games are usually terrific. I just dislike all the phony talk of 'passion' and 'pride' in one's state. You are spot on, however, about the gambling aspect. Ridiculous. Shouldn't be allowed on air.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
I do enjoy the games. The quality is better, I agree. If you don't enjoy thinking critically, don't read my articles.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
You clearly didn't read my article carefully, Barry. I never said that Origin was not faster or more intense- I said that the gap had closed, which you agree with. If you put NSW and QLD jumpers on the players in the best NRL games, no one would know the difference. Regarding passion, you've again not paid close enough attention. I said that when the emotional commitment is even, talent determines the result, just like any other sporting event. Great players take pride in performing on the biggest stage- that is their primary motivation, not any nonsense about the colour of the jersey. If that weren't the case, Queensland would have performed better against NSW all those years that they didn't have access to their Sydney players. But they got shellacked. Why? Lack of passion? Of course not. Lack of TALENT.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Ronnie, in the majority of cases most players are not selected if their skills have disappeared. Also, I never said skill REPLACED brutality- of course those older players (all of whom I watched, just like you) had an abundance of skill. It's just that the violent, overly aggressive aspect of the game has been tamped down and, as a result, skill and speed now take precedence.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Great idea, OF. Tassie has long deserved an Origin team of its own, featuring players bearing a startling resemblance to each other.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Exactly. The players are not losing sleep that they're taking part in the game's showpiece event on a losing side. Winning the premiership will always mean more no matter what anyone says.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
You've contradicted yourself- on the one hand you mistakenly say the player pool isn't as deep due to the rise of Kiwi/Polynesian players (false- they have simply added to the pool that's always been there), and then you say that the next crop of great players will come around soon. You're right on the latter point- the emergence of champions is cyclical and NSW will soon have a crop of their own, built around a frightening pack composed of players like Tony Williams, Tariq Sims and Aaron Woods.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Actually, the NRL gets very healthy coverage in the media, swamping all other football codes in NSW and QLD as it has always done. And you're incorrect, 'big' Sydney derbies played at peak times get much bigger crowds- Canterbury v Souths will get 30-40,000 this weekend, St George-Roosters for 40,000 on Anzac Day and many other games would get much bigger crowds if the suburban stadia were bigger and better. Of course League can't compete with the AFL for crowds, but you can't compare our Origin with the sham that was the AFL model. Those games, like most Aussie rules affairs, were dull messes featuring 36 men running around aimlessly dropping the ball a lot.
MG Burbank
Roar Guru
Agreed, Raugeee.
Ceebow
Guest
Can we please leave this Origin crap alone now, QLD will win this year, NSW will win game 2 and get flogged in game 3 in suncorp, Then 2013 the Qlders will win again cause they have 2 games in Suncorp which is almost impossible for NSW to beat them there so origin is dead untill 2014. We have to face facts here, our only chance was to win in Mel to make game 3 a dead rubber. I think we should just give QLD the shielld and tell them to hold onto the fkn thing for 2 years until we get our two home games back.
Tony Archers Maroon Underwear
Guest
About bloody time people started to be honest about what origin has become, 83 was the first origin series I saw and I loved it. It seemed strange when I stopped caring two years ago... but very satisfying when I stopped watching last year...life went on... The media outlets clean up with origin, Clubs (except Broncos and Storm) and the NRL comp suffers. The sooner it is scrapped, shelved and re-thought in order to be given some real meaning the better. Frankly we all know News ltd/Queensland are going to win, they are not a true rep side in the spirit of those great early teams QLD and NSW you mention, rather they are an amalgamation of players that have come through two News Ltd owned clubs. They play with thier clubs structure its well drilled and easy they bring all the wrestling and game slowing strategies and methodical attacking game plan. Its boring and they beat the team thats had a week to get things together at least 2 out of 3 times. Pride passion its all become marketing crap. Seriously the two teams dont even bother with selecting players from the state anymore to the point where Queensland even have people from NSW playing for them! In fact given the level of BS Im surprised that News Ltd/Qld dont just get the Bundy bear to be coach while NSW could call on the expertise of Glen Munsie (You know the guy, the one thats normalising problem gambling in the minds of your children when they watch RL games) Come on people if ya love league get down to your local park this weekend and support a real team. Leave the SOO to the 9 network / News Ltd etc nostalgia marketing dept.
Meesta Cool
Guest
AFL state of origin lost its appeal when Victoria started to loose... and ya think you lot are whingers. you should have been down here the year that the AFL had only 2 Vic teams in the finals... "talk about a plane full of Poms!!.
Meesta Cool
Guest
Peeko, whilst nSW keep filling their forward pack with penalty magnetys.. Queensland will keep getting easy field possession... there are certain players that the refs expect to be 'grubby' so they watch for them!.. Ricky likes tthis type of player... Nuff said!.