Queensland Maroons team for 2014 State of Origin Game 3: Expert reaction

Agreed! My first impulse was to give you the mother of all sprays for being a typical, bigoted, holier-than-thou, born-to-rule New South Welshman; but at the same time you have raised a valid point which, as a proud Queenslander, has troubled me over the years.There have been some anomalous rulings over the past couple of decades, most of which seem to have favoured Qld., though Ken Nagas was one who got away from us. The criteria have been altered quite a few times since the concept began in 1980; when the Inglis decision was made I believe the player's own preference in cases where there was any contention, carried a fair bit of weight. It should be remembered that, at the time, Inglis was joining a franchise that was being absolutely hammered by the Blues every year; the 56-16 rout in Sydney was only a couple of years earlier. It was on the nose. Neither GI nor anyone else could have imagined in their wildest dreams the level of success that was to come down the track. But yes, it does have a bit of an odour. Qld. tried for years to "buy" a Sheffield Shield -- mostly engaging over-the-hill southern or foreign stars, or bludgers seeking a paid holiday in Qld. Always excepting Hall, Lindwall, Surti, G.Chappell, Thomson, Wessels and Border. And Wellham. It got them nowhere, ten Qld'ers and Border being there for their first "kill". But it does reflect the limited talent pool that Qld. has in comparison to the southern States. What got up my nose, and that of a lot of Queenslanders I suppose, when the Origin concept started, was the parochialism (usually considered a uniquely Qld. attribute) against it. "Won" Casey, Rex "Messup", Bob Fulton and a whole lot of other public figures decried it as detracting from their precious "Sydney" club competition, with its massive crowds of 5,000-10,000 in windswept, uncomfortable, user-unfriendly suburban stadia. Of course those same knockers soon hitched up to the gravy train when they saw how the wind was blowing, just as Packer deserted the ARL during the Super League split. No wonder NSW made heavy weather of it in the early years of the concept, they "respected" Qld. so much that they made their guys play club football on Sunday, then back up against Qld. on Tuesday night (in the '80s). It served them right. Redneck and hill-billy excesses notwithstanding, I'll exult every time a Qld. outfit triumphs against a better-resourced southern one. The players, individually, are well looked after nowadays, but as a whole the state suffers from a negative image, not helped by some of our political representatives. Oh, and the field position is spelled "centre" in this country. Too much internet, and so-called globalisation? Or you'd sooner be American?

It must hurt you then that instead of pick inning a Q.L.D center for the last nine years the Q.L.D. Hierarchy chose to pick a New South Welshmen that is not eligible to play for them and has indeed spent less than 10% of his life in Queensland.

I'm (at 61) old enough to have grown up with the ridicule and condescension aimed at Queenslanders in general and most Qld. sportspeople by the definitely southern-centric media system in this country; bar a core of regrettably misinformed and outrageously biased (the other way) local redneck populist "hillbilly" journalism which developed as a defence against this stigma. I think the condescending back-pats were the worst. My dad was a lifelong New South Welshman; he always alluded to how much more "sporting" NSW teams and the public were than Queenslanders. Yeah, really??? He passed in 1984 and thus didn't live to see the record Qld. run which only ended this season, and experience the spite and paranoia which emanated from south of the border during the "streak". Anyway, it's not commercial to recall these days but didn't Qld. virtually "own" the 1920s? As I recall, the Super League Schism was orchestrated by the Murdoch organisation, with Kerry Packer reneging on verbal commitments to the ARL when he saw which way the wind was blowing. The "hatred" is stoked by the sister publications in Sydney and Brisbane, cynically doing what their parent body does so well in far more serious global theatres. One of their Qld. sports journos admitted recently "we have to pretend to hate each other at this time of year". Regrettably, this distortion exploits and exacerbates valid feelings of historical discrimination, marginalisation and isolation, and promotes an unhealthy environment. Even if Qld. continue to win and win in League, Union and Cricket; and I reach the magical 3 figures, we will even then not have achieved parity in any of these disciplines. I hurt more if the Maroons or the Bulls lose than if Australia does. Not so much the Reds because there are more "real" Queenslanders in the other franchises. I follow "real" Queenslanders wherever they are. We don't need to rely on "blow-ins". This State began, I believe, with sixpence in the coffers and we've had to battle this impost ever since.

Great article JH, Though the game was invented in England and was originally called Northern Union. It was a rebellion to Rugby Union not paying wages to injured players who were working class and couldn't afford the time off. The rules changed in the code in the following years to play the ball, no ruck, no line outs, less 2 on the field the fly half's etc, Australia, (NSW & QLD) & NZ adopted the game (rule and administration changes) around ten years later. As a kid from Cairns (FarNorthQLD) and playing League in the CDRL I remember watching on TV (ABC broadcast the Big League) the Brisbane Rugby League, late 70's early 80's and the likes of Lewis, Meninga, Dowling, Lindner, Close etc. etc. running around. I didn't really know of the NSWRL untill years later. A lot of these players dominated in Origin. Some would not travel to Sydney for money. Of course there was allot more money crowds (larger population) in the Sydney Comp but NSWRL didn't really start dominating the code until the Broncos, Gold Coast and Newcastle joined in 1988 the BRL was decimated and over time resulted a new competition QRL (Intrust Super Cup) and from which is now going gangbusters. NSWRL ran the ARL (Australian Rugby League) the governing body of Rugby League in Australia and around the mid 80's it was incorporated. In the mid 90's there was obvious expansion and growth for the code and money to be made (Sponsorships, television rights) and allot of pressure from QLD for NSW to let go of its strangle hold on the competition and pressure from rival codes and in 1995 NSWRL passed the competition onto the ARL and in this year the Cows, NZ, Western Reds and other teams joined the competition, then in 1997 News Corp (Packer) saw an opportunity to take over the game (there was a dispute in television rights) and created Super League a rival competition, there were major losses as neither comp budged and in 1998 they joined to create the NRL. Melbourn Storm were created though a few teams that were created out of the war collapsed. (Reds, Mariners, Crushers, Chargers, Rams) The ARL still controls the National Team.

I wouldn't trust him with my water bottle you wouldn't know what bubbler he filled it up from .

Well JH...in this spirit I have a photo for you. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/Queensland_Rugby_League_Founders_1907.jpg Speaking of NSW owning the narrative I thought your article was perhaps unwittingly a demonstration of this in itself....has history been rewritten? Maybe there is an Interesting discussion to be had on the advent of Rugby League in Australia. For another time....but seriously I really enjoy your contributions...an exception to the norm. Cheers, V.O.R. ;)

Bellamy said something to the effect, Cronk won't play for another 3 weeks. That was 5 days ago. Queensland has to be in dire straits to pick Cronk? Personally, if I was Cronk, I would put out.

Many thanks for the kind words. I actually really appreciate it. This, and a lot of the other things I've said on here, has led to me being called a turncoat and a closet Qld fan though. When I say I cried myself to sleep over that, I'm only half joking (!) Although, Gus Gould's also been called a closet Qld fan, so I suppose it isn't all bad. Look, all in all, I know the whole "Am Not, You Are" debating technique that goes on about Origin must obviously have its appeal, but, seriously, I find it a bit tiresome and meaningless. I'm interested in trying to progress the debate forward and actually add something new. I think about this crap all the bloody time, and I talk about it all the bloody time as well...so I have to do something with it. You blokes are the only ones that pretend to listen!

Only QLDers can get away with negative terms of endearment of their kin and even then they do so carefully, especially when you refer to the likes of Nate Myles, If your from NSW you just have to watch in awe, quietly. Consider yourself let off with a warning.

Just read your excellent article JH...didn't get the response it deserved...perhaps a vindication of your well made points...You are very astute at picking up on the subtleties that make up the Origin phenomena.

Agamemnon. Well played sir.

Lets hope he actually plays, DCE has spent more time playing as the QLD halfback then he has training for it and it showed. The last thing QLD need is another disruptive lead up

Plenty of other options Ryan, you say what you want to say.

Maybe you should replace the tag "expert" under your photo of yours to "funny expert".

Hey MrTruth I was first, your the understudy, though you have prepared well with all that concrete you have eaten.

;)