As any rugby league fan is well aware 1997 was a bad year for the game, however the fractured season appears to have outstripped its flashy modern incarnation in an area you might not have expected.
When flicking through the history of Australian rugby league, it’s pretty tempting to skip most of the ’97 season run-down, save for a glance at the grand final of that year that didn’t feature Olivia Newton-John.
Crowds were rubbish, public interest was mostly focused on how many zeroes players had on their contracts and some of the ugliest jerseys the code has ever seen were paraded around. The ARL and Super League were doing their best to ruin the lives of Australian sports fans.
More so than anything rep football suffered, particularly for ARL aligned clubs. International footy was limited to a game against the “Rest of the World” (non-Super League aligned), and State of Origin featured way too much Jeremy Schloss for everyone’s liking . Not to mention another ugly, ugly jersey as well.
But if Origin featured a pair of weakened teams, then surely the sides running out for its poxy little brother, City versus Country, in 1997 would have been an absolute laugh riot!
Err, no, not really. Behold.
Country:
Matt Seers, Darren Albert, Brandon Costin, Paul McGregor, Darren Willis, Matthew Gidley, John Simon, Paul Harragon (c), Ciriaco Mescia, David Gillespie, Marc Glanville, Scott Gourley, Nik Kosef.
Interchange: Bill Dunn, Glenn Morrison, Wayne Richards, William Kennedy.
Coach: Tom Raudonikis.
City:
Tim Brasher, Craig Hancock, Terry Hill, Michael Buettner, John Hopoate, Brad Fittler (c), Geoff Toovey, Mark Carroll, Darren Senter, Colin Ward, Daniel Gartner, Steve Menzie, Jim Dymock.
Interchange: Craig Field, Josh Stuart, Luke Ricketson, Shane Rigon.
Coach: Peter Louis.
Played in front of a crowd of just over 9000 at Newcastle, Country defeated the City slickers 17-4. Not a lot really sticks in the mind from the match bar Paul Harragon and Spud Carroll getting another chance to unload on one another.
But look at the team lists! Sure there are a few smokies in there (surely William Kennedy only existed in footy card form?) but where are the blokes who’ve played three first grade games off the bench? Where are the third-choice halfbacks? Where are the players burrowed from developing nations to fill up the seventeen?
You can look as hard as you want but brother, they ain’t there, and instead we’ve got two teams obviously picked to ensure a strong NSW side to go up against the might of QLD’s Ben Ikin, Wayne Bartrim and Stuart Kelly.
It embarrasses me a little bit to say it, but these two 1997 sides from the game’s darkest days, when depth was stretched wafer-thin, would absolutely dump on the two rabbles that have been picked for this weekend’s match in Dubbo.
It doesn’t have to be this way, obviously. Mitchell Pearce could play and prove he is the best halfback in the state. Kurt Gidley could play and stick it to all the people who think he shouldn’t be allowed within Laurie Daley’s nose of a Blues jersey. And the NSWRL could give some sort of incentive to those blokes with the mild niggling calf injuries to harden up and head bush.
And maybe, just maybe, the rugby league public will have an incentive to stop slagging off the fixture and the good folks of the bush will get the type of spectacle they deserve.
Brandon Costin notwithstanding.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
James Tedesco will be free for the next game of the Sydney Roosters' inconsistent NRL campaign after escaping suspension for tripping Ryan Papenhuyzen. The…
Sky Sports commentator Jon Wilkin has criticised the yellow card handed to a shocked Luke Yates, saying it should have just been a penalty.
St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan has said Zac Lomax should be in the discussion when it comes to Origin selection.
Queensland often has the right mix of generational talent, playmaking brilliance and these nuts-and-bolts players that bind them together like glue.
There are few greater sledges you can give an NRL team than calling them pretenders but the Cowboys will not be contenders until they…
The Parramatta coach was furious with his side after coughing up a first-half lead and going on to lose 44-16 in an embarrassing second-half…
