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With the first two State of Origin matches laced with lashings of spite, is it possible that Australian rugby league’s annual civil war could lead to its downfall at the end of this year’s World Cup?
For any good rivalry to sustain the test of time there needs to be a healthy serving of hatred, and fortunately the Origin series has had an abundance of this vital ingredient over its thirty-odd year history.
In recent years, however, the ill-feeling seems to be reaching new heights, as Queensland’s domination of the series leads to a burning resentment down South and an increased, err, ‘confidence’ in the Sunshine state.
Imagine two brothers fighting. One gets the upper hand for a while, before its wrestled back by the other. At the end of the day things have pretty much evened themselves out so everything’s cool.
All of a sudden one brother hits a growth spurt, puts the other in an arm bar on the living room floor laughing his head off and rubbing his butt in the loser’s contorted face for the next seven years, or until Mum confiscates the Nintendo.
That’s more or less Origin right now.
From the outside looking in it doesn’t exactly appear like a recipe for national team harmony, and when you chuck in the world’s most irritating victory song and some cramped hotel rooms in Limerick then you have a potentially volatile environment come October.
At the very least it’s a long way from the brotherhood of the Kiwis, who need to sing songs around a campfire together for a month before getting out of third gear, or the English who have been jaunting off on jolly ups for a game of rounders any time the sun has come out since 2010.
Geez, even the US Tomahawks have snuck in a trip to Hawaii together.
Sensing potential issues Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens, knowing that anything other than a tournament victory will see him labelled Australian rugby league’s version of Frank Spencer, has been nervously paddling between XXXX island and camp Coogee desperately putting out spot fires.
While one could argue that ever since Origin began ramping up the interstate stakes Australia’s international record has blossomed, there are past instances of the green and gold being split down state lines to the team’s detriment.
The most obvious of these of course being the 1985 Kangaroos, hilariously coached by then NSW coach Terry Fearnley, who dropped four Queenslanders for the final Test despite the team having won the previous two.
History shows the Kangaroos lost the match 18-nil, and the movement for Queensland to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia was only narrowly avoided by them being promised a young Kempsey couple’s first born son.
While you would hope that the professionalism in the Kangaroos setup has taken a few leaps ahead since then, in the last few weeks players have shown that no amount of structure can suppress emotion, and to expect bitter foes to automatically switch to best buds for the good of the country is a bit like expecting them to stop punching each other in the face by bringing in new anti-fighting laws.
With one final match to go, plenty of scores still to settle and not just the team sponsors that are bitter, if things progress as they have so far then Kangaroos coach Sheens is going to have one hell of a job on his hand uniting the two warring tribes.
With or without confiscating the Nintendo.
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