Like kangaroos, koala bears, ‘floaters’ and Dame Edna, there are several annual sports events in Australia that are uniquely Antipodean.
The Melbourne Cup is one, the Bathurst 1000 is another. Supporters of traditional rivals Holden and Ford regularly come to blows before, during and after the latter, a motor race that is a mix of Le Mans and NASCAR which means nothing to the rest of the world but everything to Australians. The AFL Final also stirs the emotions and there is no sitting on the fence either regarding the State Of Origin, even if you are not a native of either New South Wales or Queensland.
Queensland has won the best-of-three series, which attracts a huge TV audience, in 11 of the last 12 years so you would imagine that they would be hot favourites to beat the Blues again – but not so!
The Maroons have lost big stars Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk to retirement and Billy Slater to injury, for the opener at least. Those absentees leave gaps in key areas and the choice of new captain Greg Inglis is controversial to say the least. He is a native of New South Wales, though has played all of his rugby for Queensland teams. In a series that is as territorial as they come, he’ll not get an easy ride from the opposition supporters.
New South Wales new coach, Brad Fittler, is confident of reversing the trend. The former Sydney Roosters captain has had a clear-out and named 11 debutants in his squad for the first match. That’s the biggest percentage of first-timers since Queensland included 11 ‘newbies’ in 2001, a series they won to interrupt a spell of NSW dominance.
The Penrith Panthers and St George Illawarra Dragons provide several players to the New South Wales squad and both teams are going well in the ARL. Captain Boyd Cordner, James Tedesco, James Maloney, David Klemmer, Tyson Frizell and Jake Trbojevic are the only players to retain their places from last year’s decisive Game III defeat at the Suncorp Stadium and bookmakers believe that Fittler may have stumbled on a winning formula.
Given this will be a much-changed and weaker Queensland squad than in recent years, the 3/4 with Betbright for a rare New South Wales’ State Of Origin series win looks good value but don’t be suckered into backing a whitewash. Only twice since the year 2000 has one team won all three matches and not since 2010. NSW for a 2-1 correct score is 11/8 at Betway and that looks the sensible call. Queensland, despite their problems, won’t lie down, especially in front of their own fans and there is a psychological barrier for New South Wales to overcome.
