Sometimes rugby league hands us gifts almost too good to be true. On Sunday afternoon, in the biggest game of his career, Ben Barba returns to Mackay to secure a maiden Queensland State of Origin jumper.
In front of family and friends, the man nicknamed ‘X-Factor’ will run out for the Canterbury Bulldogs at Virgin Australia Stadium in a blockbuster match against the Melbourne Storm.
With a guaranteed sell-out crowd behind him, never has the proverbial brass ring been so close to Barba’s magical little hands.
The man giving up his Queensland jumper is of course Billy Slater. How apt it is that Barba faces Slater’s Storm.
Adding another twist to the tale is the fact that another Mackay native will take the field on Sunday gunning for the vacancy in the Maroons backline.
Melbourne’s Dane Nielsen will also return home with July four in his sights.
”They’ve got Greg Inglis, or they can bring in blokes like Dane Nielsen or Matty Bowen, so I have got to focus on my club form and hope for the best,” Barba told the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.
”I tried to take things out of that camp and learn from the best in the game.
“It is good to know that they are thinking of me but I have just got to keep playing good club footy and let that do the talking.”
It hasn’t been easy for the diminutive fullback. Getting to the top probably should take longer for a kid only standing 5’10 and weighing 85 kilos ringing wet.
The prodigious talent, originally born in Darwin, found the big smoke tough at first.
Sydney is a long way from Mackay. 1427 kilometres to be precise. But now he has found his feet and the fullback sure is using them.
Barba is so elusive and so quick you could miss him if you blink. In a game littered by monsters, the boy from Mackay shines.
The Bulldog doesn’t just let his feet do the talking: his feet roar just as loud as any monsters. Ask any opposition coach in the NRL and they will tell you the same thing.
Queensland have a wealth of options for fullback. Inglis could be moved to the back, allowing Nielsen a position in the centres. Darius Boyd could be shifted, giving Nielsen, Bowen or Ash Graham a spot on the wing.
Stepping into the Origin cauldron with so much on the line in Game III would scare a lot of kids. Not this one.
If Barba’s form in 2012 is anything to go by, the people of Mackay are in for a treat on Sunday. The Maroons could go with experience or a reshuffle or whatever they like. The only way Barba can change perception is to smash it.
The ‘X-Factor’ has a yes from me. He has a yes from Mackay too. Now, its up to Barba and those feet of his. If he continues his form on the weekend, he might just get a yes from Mal Meninga.
I'mastormtrooper2
Guest
The game will be played at Virgin Australia Stadium which you can google ... It is a relatively new venue and holds a crowd of 12,000 but they are constructing extra stands behind the goal posts ... The grand stand, which holds a few thousand, was sold out in the first day of ticket sales, with the first option to Bulldogs members, as it is a Bulldogs home game ... There where people who registered as Bulldog members just to get into the grand stand, which also has corporate box facilities, but it certainly doesn't compare to anything in Brisbane or the Gold Coast ... There where still tickets (about 400) for the "hill" available last week - that's where I'll be ... Funding has been approved for a complex in Rockhampton as per a news notice from Denis Keeffe the CEO of the Central Queensland bid ... It will be assured the crowd will be lively and vocal on Sunday - CAN'T WAIT!!!
Pot Stirrer
Guest
Whats the Stadium size at Mackay, A game with the potential that this game is will be an awesome event with a sold out venue.
I'mastormtrooper2
Guest
At this point in time, even Mel Meninga is still giving Slater the nod over anyone else, even if the story is true that the Queensland and Australian fullback is almost legless ... Storm vs Bulldogs this Sunday and I'll be there supporting the Storm ... Regardless of who wins it will be a treat for the Rugby League community of Mackay and the league committee need to be applauded in securing this game after Adelaide couldn't accommodate it ... Mackay is also holding the NORTH QUEENSLAND GAMES next weekend and the local community is going to reap the rewards ... Other regional cities need to put their hand up for NRL games to be organised for their local rugby league fans ... SHAME, SHAME, SHAME that the TWO BEST TEAMS IN THE NRL, won't have their game aired on Channel 9, so home viewers will have to tune into FOX ... GO THE MIGHTY STORM - GO BILLY SLA ... Oh that's right he's not playing this week!!!
Curtis Woodward
Expert
I didn't mean to offend you good sir .. was just being cheeky :)
Pot Stirrer
Guest
Chill dude, it was just a joke, did you get out the wrong side of the bed ?
Curtis Woodward
Expert
I dont need a shadow to tell you Im a good writer Pot Stirrer
Curtis Woodward
Expert
Come again ?
Pot Stirrer
Guest
@ The Bird, Is that you curtis ?
Curtis Woodward
Expert
@The Bird: Yeah! What he said!
Johnno
Guest
Give Ben barba a run in origin i say.
The Bird
Guest
You are kidding arent you ? It was another great piece from one of the roars best writers and you are having a go because he is promoting a Qld player? Wake up to yourself .. Curtis bravo again mate!
Rellum
Roar Guru
Another day another article from south of the border promoting Barba. I never see such a concerted effort from so many NSWmen to get a player picked for QLD. I can't work out if NSW people are trying to annoy us into not picking him of goad us into picking him. I do look forward though to another 10-15 of these before the week is out.
Gareth
Guest
Paul Gallen is billed as 5'11". Maybe if you measured shoulder to shoulder. Heightwise he looks a lot shorter than that.
oikee
Guest
I think Barba would be the best choice at number 1. It is going to be a brilliant final game, probably up their with the best ever atmosphere and antiscipated outcome ever. It really is Queensland destiny to have such a wonderful rivalry, the biggest in Australia. Along with other things to also enjoy if you happen to be in Brisbane over the next month or two. Yesterday i went to visit the yummy mummies. Mate, awesome, trust me, if you can make it, just do it lads. Here is something else they discovered lying around the vaults of Brisbane, probably floated to the surface after the floods, mind-boggling. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-20/fragments-of-book-of-the-dead-found-in-brisbane/3963620 Only 20 bucks to see the mummies. :) Once in a lifetime experience, unless you happen to pop into the Brittish museum.
Maroon Blood
Guest
But, again, it would mean bringing in a player unproven at Origin level. Not a move I think the selectors would make in a deciding game. Graham is great at club level but I don't feel he has the quality to make the step up to the next level whereas Nielsen has two games under his belt and is playing as well, if not better, than he was last year when he was picked.
Maroon Blood
Guest
What I am saying is Nielsen was actually one of the incumbent centres at the start of the series and with the way the Qld selectors normally operate, I think he will get the nod.
Maroon Blood
Guest
Don't get me wrong, Mango is a fantastic player who is playing as well as he ever has but I always have the Origin image in my head of him being tossed aside like a rag doll by Willie Mason when he played fullback.....'04 I think....and it seems that having an interchange back is out of fashion so there is nowhere in the side I could put him.
spek
Guest
"To me, it is a no-brainer. Inglis to fullback where he will have the space to wreak max havoc ..." well summed up Maroon Blood but Neilson would need to have blinder this weekend to convinve me he is the man to slot into the centres. defensively he could shut down Morris but does not offer much with the ball in the hand. would have to say he has been a big origin under-performer to date. (along with the Dave Taylor) Tate in the centes would offer a lot more attacking flair to the side and his defense has been rock solid. He has also played centre for Qld before. that would allow the specialist winger Graham to slot into the wing. Graham is in great form again this season and really putting his hand up for a jumper. Hard to know what more he has to do to get a start. He is certainly playing another level of football to Boyd. agreed with what most have said about Barba... he will play a lot of origin on present form but debut at full back in the deciding SOO is just not the right time. spek
Curtis Woodward
Expert
I keeping hearing that lol
jdubya
Guest
As a born and bred New South Welshman I really, really hope that Barba plays for QLD.