As New South Wales prepare to reverse a decade of Cane Toad dominance in State of Origin, here’s a packet of gum card omens to burst the Maroons’ bubble.
1979 Scanlens hero: Phil Sigsworth, three Origins, 1981-83
Matt Moylan’s debut selection proves the Blues have woken to the sins of excess baggage.
Like beer and bourbon, Phil Sigsworth and big games proved a lethal mix. Having flunked all three Origin attempts, the former Newtown and Manly fullback attained notoriety for Canterbury in the 1986 decider.
An errant stiff-arm saw Sigsworth marched on route to another defeat and the infamous tag of becoming the first to participate in three grand finals for three different clubs without success.
1982 Scanlens hero: Mick Cronin, six Origins, 1980-83
Michael Jennings’ best form is due to rebound the Blues’ way.
When Arthur Beetson’s fist collided with the head of Parramatta teammate Mick Cronin on the opening night, it doubled as Origin’s lifetime adrenalin shot.
Thirty-six years on and Jennings is still feeling the hit. Three days after last year’s Origin 2 man of the match performance the slippery sneak stood accused in operation ‘broken boom gate’.
Three weeks later, and the incident escalated to Queensland’s unmanned flood gates where a disoriented Jennings was turnstiled amid an eight-try torrent.
1982 Scanlens hero: Steve Mortimer, nine Origins, 1982-85
Steve ‘Turvey’ Mortimer was the first Blue made for Origin, once daringly stopping the team bus in Caxton Street to embrace the hate.
In a defiant image of relief, the iron-willed Bulldog was captured kissing the sodden SCG turf after leading New South Wales to its first series victory in 1985.
And with Blues halfbacks now outstripping Parramatta CEOs, it’s a gesture the fortunate Adam Reynolds should be advised to repeat.
1979 Scanlens hero: Les Boyd, three Origins, 1981-83
For twitchy marksmen like Greg Bird, some actions are best left unexplained.
Long before YouTube wannabes, firebrand Les Boyd fronted the tabloid express. His despicable elbow not only crushed Darryl Brohman’s Kangaroo dream but also overstepped Origin’s unwritten free-for-all boundary.
Twelve remorseless months in the stands weren’t enough and a follow-up 15-month eye-gouge suspension slammed the door on the Sea Eagle’s dastardly Australian deeds.
Yet through all the horror, the ex-Fibro’s miserable antics are understood by one – ‘Whatsapacketa’ Sigsworth, the common curse in all three Boyd Origin appearances.
1979 Scanlens hero: Max Krilich, five Origins, 1982-83
Blues captain Paul Gallen and niggle might be harder to split than Josh and Brett Morris, but like previous inseparables perform best in unison.
Arguably the most resilient Blue on the Phillip Street honour boards, Max Krilich had Origin’s number a decade before inception.
Having served a 100-game apprenticeship in the Sea Eagles’ lower grades, ‘Bomb Thrower’ went on to master scrummaging’s most hideous atrocities on route to skippering the 1982 Invincibles.
1979 Scanlens hero: Craig Young, five Origins, 1980-84
Bookend brothers James Tamou and Dragons legend Craig Young are so diametrically opposed they could cover Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in the hit movie Twins.
Both found Origin along a path more convoluted than a Ben Barba kick return.
The limo-long Kiwi ditched his homeland in 2012. And prior to head tape, the man known as ‘Albert’ rocketed up the round-ball charts until talent scouts hired the cubic powerhouse for demolition duties at Kogarah in his 20th year.
And while the Wollongong junior also served in the police, the Cowboys skyscraper was served, slugged by a DUI charge and 2013 Origin scratching he’s still itching to repay.
1982 Scanlens hero: Stan Jurd, two Origins, 1983
Josh Jackson will be relieved to know longevity isn’t always performance based.
Stan Jurd traded North Sydney glum for Parramatta stardom in 1983 instantly filling his high-top boots with two Origins and a premiership before charging into several injury-plagued seasons.
But as the relic crumbles, the word remains, forever mentioned alongside Ronnie Coote in rhyming-slang folklore.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Nice one Geoff. There wouldn’t be many first graders with Sri Lankan or Filipino heritage let alone both. I don’t remember him as a player but I’ll never forget his footy card...!
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Hey Baz - this is ancient news from an old blog but I was googling about Gerry this morning and your comment came up. I knew Gerry really well when I worked in Darwin for the Dept of Employment Education and Training from 1995 to 1999. Gerry was an absolutely top bloke - always having a laugh. I thought he was part Aboriginal but apparently he's from Sri Lankan and Filipino heritage. I told Gerry I supported the Raiders and he was absolutely rapped. I didn't even know he played for them at the time. Apparently he scored the first ever try for the Raiders in 1982 but only played 4 games for them due to injury.
Tripehound
Guest
Hi Jas, rugby-league.com is a good site as it covers SL and the other UK comps. The BBC sport site and sky sports are also good. Yeah the Hull KR ground is like a half finished project, the new build is very good, the old areas of the ground like the whole of Castleford's and Wakefield's stadiums (used in its loosest possible sense) are a real throw back, pretty dilapidated with cruddy amenities - and I love 'em for it!! I know from a business perspective and for younger fans with 'expectations' these facilities are not up to it, but I love the atmosphere these old grounds generate and you get a nostalgia buzz like no other when you go there. Things move on and progress, but I can't help but think of that line in the Joni Mitchell song 'you don't know what you've got til its gone'.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Awesome. The Robbins' ground looks in a similar state of dilapidation. Small wooden stands? Hey TH, is uksuperleague.com the best place for a decent round up?
Tripehound
Guest
Funnily enough the Tigers, Tigers burning bright at the Mend a Hose Jungle on a Friday night, are probably one of the best teams to watch. Their coach, Daryl Powell, consistently gets the best out of an annually pillaged squad, on limited resources. As for the mend a hose jungle, it looks as though the last bit of cyclical upgrade work was done when the Scanlens footy cards were being used as alternative currency amongst you lads down under. I thought as much earlier this month as I stood on the terraces there half expecting Mal Reilly, John Joyner and Ronnie 'Rambo' Gibbs to run out of the tunnel, such was my 1980's reverie.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
As a casual observer I like the fact there are more teams with less players I've heard of. Seems more locals are being given a chance. Clubs are probably thinking local rather than punting on washed up over priced plodders from the NRL Any comp parading its best at Mend a Hose Jungle can't be denied.
Tripehound
Guest
With regard to Carney intimating that this may not be the best SL competition since its conception 20 years ago (despite his employers, Sky, insisting every season that 'it's the best one ever') I would have to agree. In one sense the salary cap has finally kicked in and the 2016 SL is undoubtedly the trickiest one to call on a weekly basis and there is certainly a feeling that anyone can beat anyone on any given day. So a casual observer may assume that the uncertainty makes for a better competition, but as the old saying goes - the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and for me this season tastes stale. The general standard in most of what I've witnessed this year has, with the occasional exception, been of a lower quality than I can remember in a long time. So although we may have more of a sense of parity across the comp I would suggest that it's because the bar has been lowered rather than raised.
Neville Neville
Guest
Any comments on Brian Carney's input during Wakey v Catalans classic?
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Lama Tasi, I can't even remember who he represented in the NRL. Some quality Poms on deck Downunder these days. Just about all forwards which I guess raises the issue killing the Lions - no quality halves. As a Blues fan I feel their pain. I enjoy Super League when I get the chance, Magic Weekend is always good with the Oz friendly time slot. Loved the Wakefield finish after the Richards ricochet. Super League used to be largely predictable. But the table has been inverted this year, Rhinos horribly depleted, dunno what Saints are up to and Wakey revitalised without Brain Smith! We don't get Andy Sharp's round up on the Roar this year, shame.
Tripehound
Guest
You've set me thinking now Jas, best Oz signing. At Saints, we've had some good 'uns. Mal Meninga, Jamie Lyon to name two. But that calibre of player has now dried up, in fact we send you James Graham and we get Lama Tasi, what a crock of the proverbial he is. This years SL comp is equal only in its mediocrity and my side aren't even mediocre, players a million miles away from some of the blokes previously mentioned. Just as well hair is over rated mate I'd have lost all mine again watching the cack we've been served up thus far in 2016.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Sharing a Freddie with a KR diehard on my trip to the Mother Country I was surprised when he nominated Miller as their greatest Oz signing, closely followed by Dobson - Freddie froth uncontrollably sprayed from my nostrils. Hair overrated TH, bring out the ol'scrum-cap :)
Tripehound
Guest
The Professor, haha, I like it. To be honest there's a a university full of them running around in Super League these days. Tell you what though Gavin Miller put a decent stint in at Hull KR in the mid 80's before returning home to win Australian caps. They made the cardinal error that's cost many a team though and played him unfit against Castleford in the 86 Wembley final. Rovers were favourites but came up short, Miller playing on one leg being a major part of it. The last big match I watched before heading to the colonies for 12 months. Ah happy days, I also had a head full of hair then you know!!!
Jason Hosken
Guest
Craig was part of a strong Sharks pack in the 80s led by Gav Miller and weather beaten Maroon Dan Stains. The Telegraph at the time ran a spread of players nicknames, Craig must have been a sandwich short - 'the Professor'.
Tripehound
Guest
Amongst others we sell Sam Smiths ales from Tadcaster in Yorkshire (we're a cosmopolitan lot in our neck of the woods and hold no bias or bigotry towards the wrong side of the pennines!) and their Sovereign bitter is a pint to savour! One old cove (Billy Hudson) who is in our company every Sunday is the old Sharks hero Tommy Bishop's brother in law and he tells many a rare tale of his time out in Oz visiting Tommy. Bill was a bit of a have a go three quarter in his pomp (50's and 60's) that played a bit of lower grade stuff. The one Australian player he speaks about more than any other is Peter Dimond, who he rates as a real tough nut and although turned 80 now you can tell that Bill has been no softy in his time. I remember Peter's son Craig had agreed a contract to join St Helens in the mid 80's but had to relinquish due to injury.
Jason Hosken
Guest
Half your luck, that's a cracking network. I can imagine the suds and laughs you blokes must get through. Hey, do they sell Freddie Truman's at your local or only over the divide? Ha, cracking Billy yarn. You can imagine the bruisers claiming innocence believing they'd done the righty by the tour group.
Tripehound
Guest
Had such things existed in the UK a lot of the old blokes that meet up in my local club would have been in the packet along with the dried out, antiseptic scented stick of bubbly (gum). Unfortunately there were no such collectables for us young leaguies, it was all soccer cards and sticker albums. Amazingly Jim Mills is in fine fettle for a man in his 70's and you still wouldn't want a soft knock off him, hell he's that big that when you shake his hand he's got hold of you under the elbow. The Ex-Wales RL association hold their annual Christmas and St Davids day piss up in my club and the old lads come from all over the place, plus a lot of old pro's that live locally are members and drink in there regularly that's how I come to know so many. Billy Boston told me a story about one of the old Lions ashes tour to Oz (I think it was the 54 tour may have been 58), they used to travel by ship and stopped off in South Africa, en route, where they were due to play an exhibition match against a local side who had been given permission from their RU to play a one off match. Apartheid still being in force in those days the Afrikaans didn't want Billy to play and wouldn't allow him to leave the ship. The tour management, in an act of appeasement and not wanting to cause a diplomatic incident, allowed the game to go ahead. The GB players had decided on the sly that they wouldn't let Billy's situation pass by quite so easily and invoked an all out brawl five minutes after kick off causing the match to be abandoned and creating a far bigger diplomatic incident than if they had rebuked the original challenge!
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
good one Baz. Yeah he looked younger as the years went by. His '78 card at Wests was hairy scarey and he ended up almost clean-cut in the early 80s at Newtown. I don't recall his card at the Dragons - probably among the stickers Mrs Baz turfed.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Jase - footy card royalty to me was Graeme O'Grady. Every year different facial hair on his card. Side levers to mutton chops to bushy beard to beard with no mo. You never knew what you were going to get with Grazza...
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
You sure know how to mix with league royalty, wow. Up until last year Warren Ryan would often reference Billy Bosten during ABC radio coverage as the best he's seen. I'd not heard of Jim Mills, but a spot of Googling reveals a lengthy and impressive career. Nearly 400 career games at prop - he's gotta being paying for that now at 70+. As always TH, thanks for sharing.
Tripehound
Guest
Haha. Warrington is all cleaned up nowa days mate, but man alive they were a vicious side back in the late 70's and right through the 80's into the 90's. Their fans were a reflection of the team back then too, or was it the other way round?? Win or lose the Wire speccies would often go on the rampage when those things were fashionable over here. One things for sure, whenever a head the ball became available for transfer there was a good chance they'd end up at Warrington. You're correct about the one eyed faithful though Jas, the opposition always had the gun slingers, their own lads just the law enforcement officers. Believe it or not I've just this minute been talking to one of the tough old boys Big Jim Mills, don't know if you remember him I think he had a season with North Sydney in the 70's, holds the dubious record for the most sendings off in professional RL, he played for Widnes, Wales & GB. He actually was banned from NZ after stamping on one of their players in a Wales v Kiwi match. You know what's coming next, you couldn't wish to meet a nicer man, a real gent off the field. Just been with a load of the old boys including the legend Billy Boston, they meet up every Tuesday afternoon in my local club and where I garner a load of stories from.