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Ten years on, what can we learn from season 2012?

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Roar Rookie
24th July, 2022
8

Has much changed in the NRL over the last 10 years?

If you were to hop in a time machine (dusting off old copies of RLW has a similar effect), you’d see a surprisingly familiar landscape.

State of Origin 2012 followed the preferred format, with Queensland winning the first game, NSW the second, before the Maroons came home to Suncorp and won the decider.

The third match was memorable for the late Cooper Cronk field goal, and the full-time one-fingered gesture of Dave Taylor. The second match had seen Taylor in his only run-on for Queensland, a brave experiment that would never be repeated.

Ricky Stuart wasn’t coaching a club team, but rather enjoying the second of his ill-fated seasons as Blues coach. It was a time when two referees were in operation. Of course, twice as many referees meant twice as many mistakes, so press conferences were perhaps even more entertaining than they are today.

At NRL level back in 2012, current State of Origin players Josh Papalii, Daly Cherry-Evans and Dane Gagai were playing for Canberra, Manly and Newcastle, just as they do now.

There were other familiar faces. Josh Jackson and Aiden Tolman were playing for Canterbury. Andrew Fifita and Wade Graham were at Cronulla. Ben Hunt, Josh Maguire and Andrew McCullough were all playing together under the coaching of Anthony Griffin, albeit at Broncos rather than Saints.

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Aaron Woods was a promising front-rower, and some still hold hope that promise will one day be fulfilled.

Ivan Cleary was coaching the Panthers, Kevin Walters was coaching Corey Oates (in the Queensland Under 20s) and Mark Geyer was complaining that Allan Langer spent too much time on the field as Broncos and Maroons trainer.

Michael Maguire was in his first season as a head NRL coach. Having previously spent time as Melbourne assistant, he said he was pleased to be reunited with new recruit Greg Inglis, and also excited by the prospects of rookie half-back Adam Reynolds.

In 2012 the minor premiers were beaten in the grand final, something that could easily happen again this year. Back then it was the Storm (coach Bellamy) who rolled Canterbury (coach Hasler) 14-4.

This was also the year Greg Inglis mega-crunched Dean Young with the last great legal shoulder charge in rugby league history. Today some still mourn the loss of this life-changing tackle. These are the same folk who complain they don’t get to see enough serious car accidents.

A favourite feature in RLW was the gossip gathered by the Mole, for example: “Women all over Sydney are feverishly bidding for the chance to wine and dine Sam, George and Luke Burgess”.

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Perhaps today the bidding would be at a more leisurely pace.

So, what can we learn from 2012? Well, Heraclitus may have implied that only change is changeless, but the more rugby league changes, the more it remains the same.

In 2012, just like today, there was no better feeling than to plonk yourself on the coach, turn on the TV and yell, “Quick, kids! Vossy’s on!”

No prizes for guessing who Tina Turner had in mind when she sang, “I hang on every word you say!”

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