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It’s that time of year again when rugby league rolls out the ‘state against state, mate against mate’ line.
> Five greatest QLD Maroons State of Origin villains.
And you know what that really means…
Bring on the hate!
Rugby league is a game best played when the two sides openly detest one another, and luckily the animosity between the scrappy, underdog Queensland battlers and the show pony, up themselves Blues is perfect for this.
As everyone knows NSW are Origin’s true ‘bad guys,’ so it’s only natural then that they have had a host of villains in their ranks since Origins conception.
It has been a tough job but here are the five greatest NSW Villains as decided by Lang Park Boo decibels.
5. Justin Poore
Having Justin Poore in the top five of anything is a little bit of a shock, but I’m positive the man would be chased out of the Sunshine State with pitchforks if he ever dared return.
Game three of the 2009 Origin series saw the final minutes of the match descend into anarchy as a fight between Maroons nice guy Steve Price and Brett ‘Nighty-night’ White ended with Price out cold on the turf.
During the ensuing madness Poore made the extremely, err, Poore decision to lift an unconscious Price by his jersey and toss him back on the ground.
Cue a Maroons penalty and Sterlo’s immortal line “I hope no one does anything silly here…”
After playing every game of the 2009 series Poore would never play Origin again… for his own safety!
4. Greg Bird
There’s been plenty of NSW forwards who have made Maroon blood boil.
Bryan ‘the Grenade’ Fletcher. Blocker ‘Lowes’ Roach. Willie ‘Redneck Nutbags’ Mason.
But there’s a bloke even more hated…Greg ‘the Dirty’ Bird.
While in his role as captain fellow ‘Bruise Brother’ Paul Gallen has had to toe the company line and at least appear to entertain a sense sportsmanship, Bird has no such restrictions.
As a footballer Bird was born twenty years too late, and the extra leniency allowed in Origin definitely brings out the best (i.e. worst) in him.
Throw in a dodgy moustache and the fact that after one game at five-eighth the Sydney papers had christened him the next Wally Lewis and the Bird will definitely be the word come game two this year.
3. Benny Elias
For close to a decade ‘Backdoor’ Benny Elias was the grinning, yappy, irritating patron of NSW rugby league. Sort of like Hey Hey it’s Saturday’s Dickie Knee with electrical tape over his ears.
Where many Blues players and officials would look to play down the history of animosity between the two states, Elias would want only pour petrol on the flames of hatred in an effort to get under the Maroons skin.
It usually worked, and still works.
As he began to be overlooked for international honours in favour of Queensland’s Steve Walters in the early 90s Elias only seemed to become more annoying, and the sight of him winning man of the match in his final Origin match at a Lang Park packed for Mal Meninga’s farewell saw a rise in new television purchases north of the border the following weekend.
2. Ricky Stuart
During the Blues most successful era of the early nineties the backbone of their side was made up of legendary Canberra players.
Who, as much as Clive Palmer would try to tell you, mostly came across as pretty nice blokes.
Raiders halfback Ricky Stuart was the exception to this rule.
NSW’s niggling, curly mulleted, Moan-a-Tronic 4000 would follow the ref around like a lost puppy constantly complaining and only stopping long enough to deliver a bullet like cut-out pass for a Blues try.
With his Origin career cut short by the Super League war and having not got all the griping out of his system, Stuart would return to coach the Blues where his whining would be put to good use in losing press conferences.
1. Phil Gould
What, expecting somebody else?
While his presence is tolerated during the warmer months, between May and July each year Phil Gould is the most hated man in Queensland by the length of the Great Barrier Reef.
Quite simply he is the Emperor, Darth Vader and Jabba the Hut all rolled into a cheap Lowes suit.
Gould is the Alpha and Omega of NSW State of Origin. He is the man who taught NSW to take the concept seriously, their most successful coach and the man who’s opinion hold weight over all others.
Sure he may try to praise the legendary Queensland spirit to gain favour in his role as a commentator, but deep down you know he’d love nothing more than to see NSW crush the Canetoads by 50 and that’s why his voice alone leaves any Maroon fan foaming at the mouth and screaming blue murder.
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