I cracked a wry smile reading fellow Roarer and fellow tortured Raiders fan Eleanor Kite’s thinly-veiled take-down piece on Queenslanders yesterday.
And in these highly-charged State against State, mate against mate times that we currently find ourselves living in, I feel compelled to exercise my right of reply.
Yes, I’m from Queensland, and yes, I have been known to exhibit symptoms of chronic insanity from time to time (though most of those are in the past now, touch wood).
However, having been comfortably ensconced in Redfern – as deep as you can get into enemy territory this side of Palmerston North, as far as I can tell – for three State Of Origin series now, I’ve been able to observe some insane antics of my own as I plough headlong into my fourth series down south.
Like how team selections are leaked, un-leaked, re-leaked, changed, debated, revealed and ultimately reviled in the Sydney media and online forums seemingly from the time stumps are called on the New Year’s Day Test.
How losing has become so ingrained that there’s almost a desire not to win, so fans can continue to spew the same Mitchell Pearce-flavoured bile they’ve been regurgitating since before most of them even knew that hashtagging was a thing.
How two players can be bought into camp and set against each other for the final jersey, only for the coach to admit after the fact that he’s got no idea how he’ll be using said player anyway.
How the greatest of your FOGs can ostracise one of your players when dropping the black C-bomb during his role as assistant coach, then be anointed as an Immortal by a presumably Blues-centric panel ahead of the most successful Origin player/coach of them all. A Queenslander, naturally.
How the continued non-selection of Nathan Merritt fuels the fire of all sorts of paranoid agendas.
How Queenslanders are mocked for not questioning the slightly leftfield selection of Chris McQueen, like us having full faith in our selectors and players to get the job done is some sort of metaphor for the aforementioned chronically insane collective consciousness (We did get behind Adrian Brunker, after all).
How every montage of Classic Origin Moments™ down here is led not by a stunning try, cover-defending tackle or club teammate uppercutting club teammate, but a former coach stealing the current coach’s chair on the touchline.
How said former coach is often much-maligned, yet whose pre-match monologues for the host broadcaster have been easily the most consistent efforts from a New South Welshmen over the past… how many years has it been now? I still haven’t learnt to count past six.
How the only way to even threaten stadium capacity is to use blue wigs as an enticement to get punters through the turnstiles.
Yep, these here are crazy times, no doubt. Which is why I might have to get stuck into my lithium stash, slip on a maroon wig of my own, and make my way out to Olympic Park come Wednesday.
If I may flip a well-worn phrase, if you can beat them, it’s even more fun joining them, especially when you’re chronically insane.
Roarsome
Guest
sounds like a netball team.....
Roarsome
Guest
Let's not forget that one of the Blues played U18 for Queensland.
Madrid john
Guest
WTF!!! Where does Tomau come from again? It is much closer to Wellington than Wagga Wagga. Get a clue mate.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
exactly. The same thing is happening with Inglis and Slater now. Ingils is clearly the best player going around but Slater still is the Aussie and QLD fullback because Inglis can be equally destructive as a center.
Matt
Guest
Pale in comparison? Something like 50,000 seats sold in 5 minutes. With basically no advertising. Vs 80,000 seats sold (apparently) over months, with TONS of advertising. I'm in regional QLD and I'm getting ads to attend game I. Desperate or what!
Gaz
Guest
I've got a talkin dog. Every time NSW wins a series he talks. Don't know what he says yet, I've only had him for seven years.
Clevo
Guest
ANZ is just about sold out and there's only 20,000 left for game 3. Compared to Lang Park which pale in size comparison
Kris Swales
Expert
I did visit Suva in '85 so am open to the idea of a World Cup call-up from the Bati.
Matt
Guest
A kick is only as good as it's chasers. It's still a low percentage play in regards to scoring. Often used for simply getting it in goal and trying to force a drop out. The concept seems simple to me, I find it hard to believe Johns innovated it much.
Tom Gibson
Guest
Fair call, SC. Imagine NSW had that kind of halves depth nowadays? We can barely scrounge up one decent half, let alone have two of the best in the one side!
Fivehole
Guest
Maria Fenech? Lets not bring their mothers into this!
The Greatest Game Of All
Guest
You forgot Allan Langer. Also Toovey was a very good hooker aswell.
The Greatest Game Of All
Guest
I meant Mal is more widely respected as a person/man than Johns, who refers to himself as the "Eighth", good luck to him. Again with the kicking argument, he was no better than all the other greats, Alf had a superior short game, Stuart had a superior long game, luckily for Johns RLW places a high value on the "banana kick".
oikee
Guest
Lets not forget they are doing a Nathen Merrit on Feleti Mateo, got him on hold just in case they want to "use him".. hehe
oikee
Guest
Its seven Kris, ? the amount of times we have beaten NSW. Eight after this series. hehe. Wonderful read, and if you do venture out , be very careful, Thurston has been down with something very nasty, he has turned blue, they are sinking Maroon pills into him as we speak. trying to get rid of that nasty nasty virus. hehe.
Sideline Commentator
Guest
Mal is more respected is he, is that why he was named the eighth immortal. (Cue the 'immortal status doesn't mean anything' whinge). As to the kicking game, I didn't say attacking kicks didn't exist before Johns, or that he invented them (attacking bombs have been the rage since the eighties). I'm simply saying the way he utilised a more complex kicking in game was not done to the same extent before him. Langer, Lewis, Sterling and particularly Stuart had excellent kicking games. However, they used them in different ways to Johns, still largely relying on a passing game when they could, as kicking was considered a lower percentage play. What Johns did was change the way attacking kicks were though of, increasing their percentage rating in attacking football.
Sideline Commentator
Guest
Oh I totally agree that Channel 9 makes some outstanding mythology. The point is that Joey made many rep teams, not because he wasn't good enough to play in his position, but that he was so good he could play many positions. Kimmorley and Toovey were just halves, so they got the nod as teams knew they could still use Andrew Johns in other positions.
The Greatest Game Of All
Guest
You've never heard of Lewis, Sterling, Stuart or Langer?
DJ
Guest
NSW totlaly don't have anyone else from any other state of country. Try this: Phil Blake (London, England); Hazem El Mazri (Tripoli, Lebanon);Chris Johns (Qld); Ken Nagas (Bundaberg Qld); Akulia Uate (Votua, Fiji);Peter Wallace (Melbourne Victoria);Peter Stirling (Capt. Toowoomba Qld);Willie mason (Auckland New Zealand);Benny Elias (Tripoli, Lebanon);James Tamou (Palmerston North New Zealand);Solomon Haumono (Auckland New Zealand);Ian Roberts (London, England);Timana Tahu (Melbourne Victoria);James McManus (Banff, Scotland);Maria Fenech (Valetta, Malta);Juistin Poore (Perth, Western Australia); John Hopoate (Nuku'alofa, Tonga).
woobliesfan
Guest
Lol. Us QLDers can only dream of matching so many series in a row.