The second of Australian Rugby League’s showcase series – State of Origin – kicks off on Wednesday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a ground famous for the 1956 Olympic Games, Boxing Day Cricket clashes and countless Australian Rules finals.
The game’s obsession to grow the game means a game outside of Queensland and NSW again, and despite its grandeur and the reputation as the best sporting ground in Australia, it just doesn’t seem right. I’m sure Celtic v Rangers or the Manchester derby in Football wouldn’t be moved to Wembley, nor would an Ashes Test be played in Tokyo to grow the audience, but that’s Rugby League in Australia.
It’s not that the game won’t be well supported, as Melbourne folk are amongst the keenest sports fans in the world, but for the small percentage of fans that aren’t originally from Queensland or NSW attending the game will be akin to walking past a talented street performed on their way home. Sure, the act is talented, and your interest was raised by the large crowd watching, but a day later life is back to normal and the event is long forgotten.
One person who is probably happy that the game is in Melbourne is Daly Cherry-Evans, as the MCG is likely to be the only place he won’t be booed at, after the Brisbane News Ltd papers stirred the locals to boo their own player last Friday night. He comes back into the Queensland side after missing Game One through injury.
The lead up to the game usually revolves around the opposing state’s newspapers and their claims and counter claims of dirty tricks, filthy tactics and whining about referees thrown back and forth across the border. The spiral into almost schoolyard scuffles gets tiring after a while.
Thankfully, for all those bored of the usual lead up to the State of origin clashes, Rugby League found a new way to bring in the fans on Thursday night as the Footy Show featured an arm wrestle between two former league players which ended in an arm being broken live on TV. Talk about originality. There’s footage out there to view yourself, but we’ll leave it up to you to determine your threshold of gore. The only positive out of the failed arm wrestle is that it was only just more painful than watching the Footy show.
SO, WHO’LL WIN?
It really is hard to say who’ll win. In Game 1 NSW had the best of the first 40 minutes and looked to have enough to win. Whilst in the second half Queensland had enough ball to win the entire Origin series but scored just the once. In the end it was a Cooper Cronk field goal that made the difference as NSW lost their composure and forgot how to kick one themselves.
Ulitmately at the moment it is a legendary team in maroon at the end of their winning cycle against a team in blue at the beginning of a new era, and when they will eventually meet and change is the big question. There was enough on show in Game 1 to argue it will be this year for NSW, however with Queensland likely to have a backline that hasn’t just checked out of the hospital or a physio’s office there’ll be plenty more points in them this game.
Based on a fit backline full of superstars, Queensland are the tip by 6 – 12 points.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
State of Origin clashes back in the day used to feature some of the biggest dust ups of the sporting year. These days, under the guidance of the new NRL commission, any punch thrown will result in disciplinary action. This means that players will do just about anything to throw a punch without actually landing one. So one of the things to look for is the creative ways the modern players can attempt to attack the opposition without throwing a punch.
Coincidently, one of the biggest State of Origin fights of all time was at this very ground in 1995. Take a trip down memory lane via Youtube.
The return of Paul Gallen for NSW provides an interesting side show as he and Nate Myles will no doubt go head to head again. They don’t appear to like each other very much, and there’s been plenty of niggle in the past. Even a punch thrown. Nate Myles, who appears to have the thickest forehead in Rugby League won’t be too bothered though.
A fully fit Greg Inglis will be like a new inclusion after he was well of his usual quality in the first clash, and his mighty fends are something to behold as he swats defenders like flies.
There’s also the kick off time to watch out for. The coverage may say 7:30pm, but seasoned viewers will know that a kick off before 8:00pm is highly unlikely.
We tipped 8:23 for Game 1 and fell just a minute short. Almost enough time to cook a roast from coverage start to kick off.
This game we tip 8:16pm. Pity there’s no market.
For those betting at home, choose the last tryscorer optio for maximum value for betting dollar action. First try scorer is more popular but can be over in a flash, Last tryscorer could and does happen at any time.
NEED SOME EXTRA ENTERTAINMENT WITH YOUR ORIGIN TONIGHT?
Why not join in the fund with our patented* State of Origin Drinking Game.
* Patent not honoured
