Ben Barba and Reece Robinson voted with their feet on Saturday night, so did 41,209 spectators at Suncorp – the Indigenous-NRL All Stars game is here to stay.
And so it should, it has all the ingredients for the perfect start to a new season.
To think some tunnel-visioned rugby league administrators were toying with a nines tournament to replace the All Stars fixture is beyond belief.
Bulldog Barba dominated the first half with a hat-trick of tries in the 10th, 21st, and 31st minutes – as only Barba can do. He is Mr Electric.
Raider Robinson repeated the dose in the second half with a hat-trick of his own in the 46th, 71st, and 78th minutes for the Indigenous side to romp home 32-6 and square the annual series at two apiece.
Barba and Robinson share more than three tries. Both share a June 13 birthday, with Robinson born in 1987 and Barba in 1989.
Grand fare.
But Barba and Robinson were not the only standouts, the usual suspects shone -Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, Cam Smith, and even Jarryd Hayne when he was given a sniff with a 70m try.
The downside? What will Queensland coach Mal Meninga, and Kangaroo coach Tim Sheens, do with the magnificent multi-talents of Ben Barba when both coaches have Billy Slater, arguably one of the greatest attacking players in rugby league history?
Having said that, Meninga can’t deny Barba an Origin berth, nor can Sheens deny him an international jumper.
On the other side of the coin NSW Origin coach Laurie Daley would have watched Thurston, Inglis, Smith, and Barba strut their stuff last night, knowing there’s still Slater and Cooper Cronk to return for Queensland Origin duties.
The talent just keeps coming.
In a bid to stem the maroon tide Daley could do a lot worse than give Willie Mason a return to Origin after five years in the wilderness.
Last night Mason was in the thick of the action. He’s a rejuvenated footballer under Wayne Bennett at the Knights and deserves another crack at the big time.
And a welcome relief talking about football form, and Origin, instead of drug-taking and match-fixing.
Long may that be the case.
Bazzio
Roar Guru
Ben Barba is the single best attacking player I've seen since Lord Ted Goodwin. Geez it's been a long wait to see someone so talented, so naturally gifted, so athletically articulated. I hope, I really do hope with all my heart, that Ben Barba attains his yet to be achieved full potential, and that his club the Bulldogs is mentoring him for his future as a role-model for the NRL, as well as society-at-large. Ben Barba B***** Brilliant!
Will Sinclair
Guest
The new referee's boss - Daniel Anderson - has flagged a crack down on the obstruction rule, and it'll be interesting to see how this effects Barba and the Bulldogs. A lot of the tries he scored / created out on the left edge were running close to the wind...
Morfs
Guest
Fair point there, Razza. A lot of the passes out wide from the Indigenous side appeared to be flat at best, with several looking quite blatently forward. Of course, merely playing that way won't win games, you still need flair & talent to finish off the plays, which Barba clearly has. I expect big things from him in the future.
Razza
Guest
Any player can look good when there is offside play, watch Barba's positions close, but in saying that he is a very good attacking player.
Margaret R.
Guest
I agree David.... a great relief from the match fixing and drug taking.... Just hope it will be all over soon... Keep it up.
Bearfax
Guest
Barba is very clever and at full back is a very dangerous proposition but the better teams will work out how to limit his options. Its how he responds to that, that will determine if he will really become one of the very special talents in league