Time Origin fence was smashed in
- Thread starter Jethro
- Start date
-
We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
JUST imagine it. It’s a mid-winter Wednesday night. Suncorp Stadium is heaving. Caxton Street is off the reservation.
It’s Origin time baby! But this year the crackle of the night sky has a lit
tle extra pop.
There’s the usual narrative. Paul Gallen’s arrived in a part of the world he despises and is despised in equal measure. He’s just belted a no-name Queenslander in the boxing ring and Nate Myles has hinted at a square up. Judiciary be damned.
The Blues have got the weight of an expectant state on their shoulders. Surely the streak has to end this year.
And it just might, you know. Because this year NSW has got a secret weapon. Make that two secret weapons. It just so happens that they both speak with Yorkshire accents.
The Burgess brothers, Sam and George, have been waiting for this their whole lives. They love Origin! They’ve worshipped the sky blue jersey since they were belting the life out of each other on the village green.
And oh, what a pack they’re playing in tonight. George in a front row rotation with James Tamou and Andrew Fifita. Sam joined in the back-row by Gallen and Greg Bird.
But they don’t strike fear into the Suncorp crowd, cause look who’s in maroon.
There’s Sonny Bill Williams busting holes in the Blues’ defensive line down the left as Israel Folau looms up on the outside.
He’s got Greg Inglis and Billy Slater inside and outside him for support. As if he’s going to need it.
Right now this is the stuff of dreams. NRL boss Dave Smith must surely wake up at times with this very scenario whirring around in his head.
If only it were that easy. If only Origin eligibility wasn’t such an emotionally charged issue. If only the rules hadn’t just been tightened up to stop the fence jumpers like Greg Inglis.
Dave Smith can’t afford to deal in hypotheticals. When he took the NRL’s top job on the eve of the 2013 season he knew there were huge challenges to overcome.
He was aware that many of those challenges involved political games. So many stakeholders to please, so many obstacles to hurdle.
But putting aside performance enhancing substances and the spectre of illegal betting and match fixing, Smith’s greatest challenge is to grow the game. And the best way to do that is to turn a negative into a positive.
Right now rugby union is winning the battle for the marquee talent. Yes, rugby league’s traditional nurseries will keep pumping out stars. The game won’t die without the likes of Sam Burgess and Sonny Bill Williams.
Hey, they may even both return to the 13-man game when the 2015 Rugby World Cup’s done and dusted. But why give your direct competitior for stars, eyeballs, and TV dollars a free kick every four years?
The fact is both Burgess and Sonny Bill are rugby league players at their core. So is Folau. The only reasons each have jumped the fence is for the challenge offered by international rugby, and the top-up that provides their salary.
Let’s face it, rugby league is never going to be able to compete with rugby union on the international stage. Keep the World Cup going, keep taking the game to other markets, sure. But as far as using it as a carrot for the game’s best players, forget it.
What jumps out of the box for league is Origin. It’s perhaps the most fierce cauldron in which a contact sport is conducted anywhere in the world.
TV audiences are massive. Even died in the wool AFL fans in Victoria who don’t watch another game of league all year tune into Origin. It’s not just sport it’s theatre.
Already Origin is big in key global rugby league markets like the north of England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
But that interest would explode if the superstars of those countries were taking part.
Origin’s already the pinnacle of the sport. Why not formalise that title by opening it up to the best of the best, no matter what country they hale from, and without turning international league into a bigger farce than it already is by forcing Origin players to play for Australia.
Let James Tamou play for the Blues AND New Zealand. Let every NRL player nominate what state they support when they first sign a professional contract and make them stick with it.
Then let them stay true to the nation they were born and raised in by allowing to represent them in international league.
Of course there’ll be the naysayers that believe this dilutes the very fabric of the Origin contest. That no one can commit to shedding blood, sweat and tears for an Origin jersey if they’ve didn’t feel the joy of the wins and the pain of the losses as supporters and residents of their state when they were kids.
But let’s be realistic. Origin transcends that. There’s Kiwis who have never set foot in Queensland who support the Maroons as passionately as the average Queenslander from across the ditch.
Just ask Sam Burgess about the pain he’s felt to watch on helplessly as a Blues fan as NSW has lost the past eight series.
And don’t tell me you don’t have that irritating workmate or neighbour who supports Queensland at Origin time even though he was born and bred in NSW.
So let’s get real. Let’s make Origin a game all rugby league players can aspire to. Let them fight for the financial rewards that go with it.
That, along with a marquee player allowance in the NRL salary cap, might just stop the likes of Burgess, Sonny Bill and Folau from contemplating a code-hop, even in the changed professional sports landscape of today.
Ben Glover
FOX SPORTS
http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/state-of-origin/time-nrl-opened-up-state-of-origin-to-stars-of-all-nationalities-to-slow-the-player-drain/story-fn31yxah-1226831568252
It’s Origin time baby! But this year the crackle of the night sky has a lit
There’s the usual narrative. Paul Gallen’s arrived in a part of the world he despises and is despised in equal measure. He’s just belted a no-name Queenslander in the boxing ring and Nate Myles has hinted at a square up. Judiciary be damned.
The Blues have got the weight of an expectant state on their shoulders. Surely the streak has to end this year.
And it just might, you know. Because this year NSW has got a secret weapon. Make that two secret weapons. It just so happens that they both speak with Yorkshire accents.
The Burgess brothers, Sam and George, have been waiting for this their whole lives. They love Origin! They’ve worshipped the sky blue jersey since they were belting the life out of each other on the village green.
And oh, what a pack they’re playing in tonight. George in a front row rotation with James Tamou and Andrew Fifita. Sam joined in the back-row by Gallen and Greg Bird.
But they don’t strike fear into the Suncorp crowd, cause look who’s in maroon.
There’s Sonny Bill Williams busting holes in the Blues’ defensive line down the left as Israel Folau looms up on the outside.
He’s got Greg Inglis and Billy Slater inside and outside him for support. As if he’s going to need it.
Right now this is the stuff of dreams. NRL boss Dave Smith must surely wake up at times with this very scenario whirring around in his head.
If only it were that easy. If only Origin eligibility wasn’t such an emotionally charged issue. If only the rules hadn’t just been tightened up to stop the fence jumpers like Greg Inglis.
Dave Smith can’t afford to deal in hypotheticals. When he took the NRL’s top job on the eve of the 2013 season he knew there were huge challenges to overcome.
He was aware that many of those challenges involved political games. So many stakeholders to please, so many obstacles to hurdle.
But putting aside performance enhancing substances and the spectre of illegal betting and match fixing, Smith’s greatest challenge is to grow the game. And the best way to do that is to turn a negative into a positive.
Right now rugby union is winning the battle for the marquee talent. Yes, rugby league’s traditional nurseries will keep pumping out stars. The game won’t die without the likes of Sam Burgess and Sonny Bill Williams.
Hey, they may even both return to the 13-man game when the 2015 Rugby World Cup’s done and dusted. But why give your direct competitior for stars, eyeballs, and TV dollars a free kick every four years?
The fact is both Burgess and Sonny Bill are rugby league players at their core. So is Folau. The only reasons each have jumped the fence is for the challenge offered by international rugby, and the top-up that provides their salary.
Let’s face it, rugby league is never going to be able to compete with rugby union on the international stage. Keep the World Cup going, keep taking the game to other markets, sure. But as far as using it as a carrot for the game’s best players, forget it.
What jumps out of the box for league is Origin. It’s perhaps the most fierce cauldron in which a contact sport is conducted anywhere in the world.
TV audiences are massive. Even died in the wool AFL fans in Victoria who don’t watch another game of league all year tune into Origin. It’s not just sport it’s theatre.
Already Origin is big in key global rugby league markets like the north of England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
But that interest would explode if the superstars of those countries were taking part.
Origin’s already the pinnacle of the sport. Why not formalise that title by opening it up to the best of the best, no matter what country they hale from, and without turning international league into a bigger farce than it already is by forcing Origin players to play for Australia.
Let James Tamou play for the Blues AND New Zealand. Let every NRL player nominate what state they support when they first sign a professional contract and make them stick with it.
Then let them stay true to the nation they were born and raised in by allowing to represent them in international league.
Of course there’ll be the naysayers that believe this dilutes the very fabric of the Origin contest. That no one can commit to shedding blood, sweat and tears for an Origin jersey if they’ve didn’t feel the joy of the wins and the pain of the losses as supporters and residents of their state when they were kids.
But let’s be realistic. Origin transcends that. There’s Kiwis who have never set foot in Queensland who support the Maroons as passionately as the average Queenslander from across the ditch.
Just ask Sam Burgess about the pain he’s felt to watch on helplessly as a Blues fan as NSW has lost the past eight series.
And don’t tell me you don’t have that irritating workmate or neighbour who supports Queensland at Origin time even though he was born and bred in NSW.
So let’s get real. Let’s make Origin a game all rugby league players can aspire to. Let them fight for the financial rewards that go with it.
That, along with a marquee player allowance in the NRL salary cap, might just stop the likes of Burgess, Sonny Bill and Folau from contemplating a code-hop, even in the changed professional sports landscape of today.
Ben Glover
FOX SPORTS
http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/state-of-origin/time-nrl-opened-up-state-of-origin-to-stars-of-all-nationalities-to-slow-the-player-drain/story-fn31yxah-1226831568252
i thought the 'author' has basically described qld's (past) and current recruiting policy. Nothing real new there for them...
It's also interesting these so called journo's keep talking about the mass marketing of the game, yet find it impossible to type 'north america' as a lucrative market to aim for.
As mrs brown from Mrs Brown's boys tv show would say.... fecking idjit's!
It's also interesting these so called journo's keep talking about the mass marketing of the game, yet find it impossible to type 'north america' as a lucrative market to aim for.
As mrs brown from Mrs Brown's boys tv show would say.... fecking idjit's!
HappilyManly
Journey Man
Mass marketing like the - Kaspersky/Huawei China promo Tour - too difficult for the NRL 
Lord Eagleton
Bencher
The guy that wrote this article is off his head. Even if Origin was open for internationals, it still wouldnt be enough to stop them going to rugby. They go to rugby to play football all around the world and for the better money on offer. 3 games a year at Brisbane and Homebush is not going to tempt anyone lol. I think he was struggling for a news article when he wrote this.
origin players get 30 or 40k per match under the new agreement so an extra 100k may entice some players to stay. The players being offered big bucks by union come from a fairly small pool. To be honest its only players from that pool of elite players that hurt the game in leaving. Sam leaving is not good for the game
Sam Burgess has some crap in his game but as a super competitive pommy villin he is great for the game. The major concern is losing him from the English side . The poms are slowly producing more and more world class players and the International game needs him. He is a superstar for the english side, a player to build a future around.
The English are passionate, vocal and put the aussies to shame in selecting there own. More than any other country and competition, League needs the pommies to be strong and this is a massive blow. Having a team and competition on the other side of the globe gives League some cred but it would have much more if they were stronger
Currently they have a forward pack that can compete but Sam is a leader and true leaders are hard to find. I dont give a rats about the rabbits, the NRL but league should have stopped him from switching
Its about time more cash that is generated from International game goes back into the international game. Why dont the English League have the coin or the brains to offer him a package that see's him remain in league and take over the English captaincy for a decade
The NRL is a selfish little sess pool, and the sooner this 26 game comp is broken down to accomadate a much wider competition or competitions the better for the game of League
I know the comp has been broke for a long time, and is only starting to find its feet but we need some vision
Sam Burgess has some crap in his game but as a super competitive pommy villin he is great for the game. The major concern is losing him from the English side . The poms are slowly producing more and more world class players and the International game needs him. He is a superstar for the english side, a player to build a future around.
The English are passionate, vocal and put the aussies to shame in selecting there own. More than any other country and competition, League needs the pommies to be strong and this is a massive blow. Having a team and competition on the other side of the globe gives League some cred but it would have much more if they were stronger
Currently they have a forward pack that can compete but Sam is a leader and true leaders are hard to find. I dont give a rats about the rabbits, the NRL but league should have stopped him from switching
Its about time more cash that is generated from International game goes back into the international game. Why dont the English League have the coin or the brains to offer him a package that see's him remain in league and take over the English captaincy for a decade
The NRL is a selfish little sess pool, and the sooner this 26 game comp is broken down to accomadate a much wider competition or competitions the better for the game of League
I know the comp has been broke for a long time, and is only starting to find its feet but we need some vision
Doesn't matter.... London - Queen's land, Cardiff - South Wales ....easy!
Choice of 2 colours: Hot Pink or Fluorescent Blue?
Come one, come all!
State versus State, Mate versus Mate, Foreigner versus Mercenary,
It's the Rugby League "State o' Big Bash*"
*note to mums - Bash does not infer shoulder charges or punching
All tongue in cheek of course. State of Origin is a bit like having a cake you can only share with half the family (which is a real shame).
Choice of 2 colours: Hot Pink or Fluorescent Blue?
Come one, come all!
State versus State, Mate versus Mate, Foreigner versus Mercenary,
It's the Rugby League "State o' Big Bash*"
*note to mums - Bash does not infer shoulder charges or punching
All tongue in cheek of course. State of Origin is a bit like having a cake you can only share with half the family (which is a real shame).
The only reason State of Origin worked was because there was genuine animosity between the states. The animosity was all from Queensland, and it was soundly rooted in real injustice. The series has been a great cash cow for the league and they are milking it for all it's worth, but as we know milk comes with a use-by date. It will need tinkering to keep it palatable for a little longer.
I don't have a problem with players who are permanent residents nominating their state allegiance and being available, even though they may play for New Zealand, England, etc in international matches. But the meaning of SOO, which is the reason for its success, would be totally dissipated if blow-ins like Burgess, who just come for a few years and make no long-term commitment to this place of ours, were drafted into the teams.
I don't have a problem with players who are permanent residents nominating their state allegiance and being available, even though they may play for New Zealand, England, etc in international matches. But the meaning of SOO, which is the reason for its success, would be totally dissipated if blow-ins like Burgess, who just come for a few years and make no long-term commitment to this place of ours, were drafted into the teams.
COMMANDER said:
Classic Commander.....yep you bastards would take em from anywhere if it meant 10, 15 or even 20 in a row....you have already made PNG, Tonga and New Zealand " Queensland" so why not the north of England as well.
There's a couple from the USA you might want to give a run to as well.
Mind you NSW joined the rort with Tamou, so what the feck, let's throw it open to anyone who wants a run and play with whomever you want...after all it's just another game!!
seaeagles4life
Reserve Grader
Ive said it before, a player like Keiran Foran who has lived in NSW for the last 15 years should be able to represent NSW at the state level and NZ in the international form of the game.
Burgess I however do not agree with as he has only been in NSW for the last few years. Maybe draw the line at where you have played the majority of your junior footy at or where you were raised.
Burgess I however do not agree with as he has only been in NSW for the last few years. Maybe draw the line at where you have played the majority of your junior footy at or where you were raised.
| Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 59 | 12 |
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 12 |
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 53 | 10 |
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 30 | 10 |
|
7 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 9 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 40 | 8 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 8 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | -8 | 8 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | -18 | 8 |
|
7 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 7 |
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 31 | 6 |
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 6 |
|
6 | 2 | 4 | -31 | 6 |
|
7 | 3 | 4 | -41 | 6 |
|
7 | 2 | 5 | -29 | 4 |
|
6 | 1 | 5 | -102 | 4 |
|
6 | 0 | 6 | -90 | 2 |
