Yes, it's that time again, the series that stops half the nation.

I'm thinking that if we QLD'ers slip you guys a few more mobile phones you cockroaches will be so short of players you'll be calling up Sterlo and Blocka Roach.

So even with all the controversy, what's on the plate for next Wednesday? Maroons or Blues?

I always go for the blues!!!! Hopefully they pull off a good victory.

Blues :)

qld will really miss lockyer, but now nsw is depleted because of mobile phones, im like Gould, i dont really care who wins ,i just want to see a good game.

Lol, I wonder how the Blues will perform tomorrow night? With all this scandal going on, its a wonder they can remain focussed on training for the big game...

lets hope queensland can finally win at stadium australia tomotorw night. go boys!!!!!!!!!!

Go Queensland! I'll be watching the game in a London pub near my work in Hammersmith called the Puzzle, it's a bit of an Aussie pub. It will be an extended lunch tomorrow.

QUEENSLANDERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! C'mon guys u can do it. :cheers: Bash those blues. :bash:

the blues will win in a close one. i just wish NSW fielded the best siide which would of included Andrew johns and also minichello.
still be a good encounter, they always are!

Blues will win, but it'll be very close, say 2 or 4 points in it. Telstra stadium is really a fortress for the Blues. We're undefeated there after 7 games... GO THE BLUES!

And Bob Carr and Peter Beattie have placed their usual origin wager, with the losing state to fly the winners flag on their city's main bridge (Storey Bridge in Brisbane & the harbour bridge in Sydney)

I just wanna see biffo....last year was great. I dont have a clue who will win, probably QLD because of the phone scandal.

As to who I would like to see win...well, which ever state has the most Melbourne Storm players playing for them.

There is a tendency for Storm players to play for NSW :D:

4-0 at half time :)

Good to see the Maroons carrying off from where they started in game 3 last year, and let's not forget the QLD Bulls giving the NSW blues a beating at the Gabba earlier in the year and the Reds whooping the Waratahs a couple weeks back.

Momentum is with the Good Guys this year ;)

9-8.

Crap.

fanbloodytastic! what a game! nSW had 3 tries disaloud in first half , plain badluck! but managed to group in 2nd half to secure win. what about gower dropping ball with 1min to go??lol
anyway QLD played well. cant wat for origin2!

9-8, is that like a nill all draw in soccer? Sounds very unexciting.

Bugger it, when will Queensland ever have someone that can kick goals. I don't think we have ever really had a good goal kicker in the history of Origin. Can anyone name one?

2 tries to 1, but no conversions, and the NSW penalty for obstruction right in front was a joke too. Just back in the office from the Puzzle Pub in London, it was crowded with about 50 cheering Aussies and 20 bemused Poms.

9-8, is that like a nill all draw in soccer? Sounds very unexciting.
WTF?? score doesnt mean much! a try=4 points and goal=2 points. it was 2-1 tries and QLD kicked 2 goals.
it was a very exciting game and all the way to the wire! even had to play extra time to complete the match with a field goal!
one of the all time great origins!

I think he was just trolling Cull.

And I wish Qld had kicked 2 goals.

I always though the more entertaining rugby games were higher scoring, such as 25ish, if you know what I mean.

Timmins you are a LEGEND!!!!!!

Well done NSW. It was very good game for the Blues particularly after the phone sex scandal and having to axe and fine players. A very good reward for regrouping.

GO THE BLUUUUUUUESSSS!!!!

That was an awesome match. The players were FUCKED by the 83rd minute... running on nothing but will power!

and then Timmins slot it through!

I thought we had lost our chance when Gower dropped it trying to kick a field goal!

BRING ON THE CANE TOADS in game 2!

I always though the more entertaining rugby games were higher scoring, such as 25ish, if you know what I mean.
well of course its great to see lots of tries but these two teams were pretty equal and the score showed this. Some times the "edge of your seat" games are low scoring.
anyway QLD today aernt happy about the golden point rule. i would be too if i lost. lol but i hate watching these games and its a draw! :wallbash: it s like it was all for nothing!
cheers :runaway:

yeh exactly cul.
it doesnt matter if the score is 9-8 or 109-108

its exciting if it goes down to the wire.

but i admit i prefer down to the wire games where more points are scored.


ALSO agree with golden point rule... i mean how many times did we lose the series even though it was drawed! that was gay. so good that its fixed now.

excellent game last night. I thought it would be close, but not that close. Timmins... where did he pull that field goal out of? 1 up, now off to Suncorp...

There is a tendency for Storm players to play for NSW :D:

do you even know what your talking about?

Billy Slater and Cameron Smith are the only storm players in the match and there both playing for QLD.

Melbourne Storms feeder club is in Brisbane, many of the younger players are Brisbane boys or there playing for Norths...

btw, i found the game boring and my attention was turned to the Super12 GF on ch.12, very uninteresting match....

also good to see loyal NSW fans, boo'ing willy mason on to the field... pathetic

how much time did nsw waste when they had a drop out in the last minute. That extra 15 seconds or so would have at least let queensland have a decent crack at field goal. oh well, we did well for a team with shit all in the halves. bring on game 2 :wallbash:

btw, i found the game boring and my attention was turned to the Super12 GF on ch.12, very uninteresting match....

also good to see loyal NSW fans, boo'ing willy mason on to the field... pathetic
super 12? lol, i think the NSW fans were more annoyed with big willie. but since he played a top game they loved him afterwards. It was a good game. not boring at all!
it makes for a great encounter at Suncorp!

Sometimes I think league should implement 5 point tries.

Rugby almost got it right, until they bought in 3 point penalties and field goals.

^
I don't wanna sound like sour grapes, but that reminded me of the World Cup last year. It seems pointless to try and exert yourself for a try when two simple kicks at goal will exceed in pooints value a try. Make it more for tries, and less for field goals, so Rugby Union can get back to the way it was meant to be, and thats all about scoring tries.

Wow, what a great advertisement the State of Origin game was for Union and AFL the other night. I mean, you can't get much boring than that. And what a fantastic anti-climax the golden point is. Way to go League, you must be about 12 feet under by now.

The problem with having points scored from penalties is that the field is too small and hence a player can have a penalty shot from close to half way. However, if the boards were to decrease the amount of points for a penalty then there would be more of them committed, making for an even slower and less spectator friendly.

Maybe if the field was extend for Union then field goals and penalty goals could still retain their point values but depending where the penalties and field goals are taken from, they could have less chance of making the distance.

Onto League, I think, for their style of game, they have got it just about right. Maybe if conversions were worth 1 (meaning the max points you could get from a try is 5) or if tries were worth 5 and conversion worth 2 (meaning the max points you could get from a try is 7) it might make it seem "fairer". If I was going to change it to something I would make the conversions worth only 1 point.


Disclaimer: these are my opinions on how these games might be improved for it to make "more sense" to an AFL suppoter like myself.

Wow, what a great advertisement the State of Origin game was for Union and AFL the other night. I mean, you can't get much boring than that. And what a fantastic anti-climax the golden point is. Way to go League, you must be about 12 feet under by now.

Im guessin you dont follow one or the other team strongly then. state of origin doesnt have to be pretty to be exciting. its more about beating the shit out of the other team than scoring a heap of points.

Wow, what a great advertisement the State of Origin game was for Union and AFL the other night. I mean, you can't get much boring than that. And what a fantastic anti-climax the golden point is. Way to go League, you must be about 12 feet under by now.
hey, just because you get 7 points for a sigle goal in AFL and even one if you miss!
it has to be the only game in the world where you get a goal for misssing?? lol
how many goal posts do you want?? hehe.
just kidding.
i think Hoff nailed it on head, why the interest in points?? this doesnt make a game more interesting? actually the lower the score the more interesting!
just look at soccer!
but you have to remember the football game you have grown up with is the one you find intertsing. i think AFL is sometimes boring but only because ive grown up in NSW and watched rugby league. I even think Rugby Union is boring, it has nothing on league.
the State of origin is a powerful encounter with 26 athletic big guys.its said to be the toughest game in the world! even tougher than gridiron which i think is an even bigger joke! hehe
anyway ave a goowekkend! :cheers:

well i actually did grow up to Rugby Leauge, i supported the Broncos(and still do) but also supported the other teams to grace SEQ, like the Gold Coast team and the South Queensland Crushers.. I used to love the game, but i think the Super League era devastated it for me, ive only ever being to one game of league since and that was a State Of Origin match when Alfie made his triumphant return.

the State of origin is a powerful encounter with 26 athletic big guys.its said to be the toughest game in the world!
I agree that it was the touhest game, maybe years ago but not these days. i think State of Origin has being going down since 2000. Theres no great players running around the field anymore, theres players like Lockyer and that, but there definetly no Johns, Fittlers, Tallis, Langers, Lewis's and Maninga's.

Im guessin you dont follow one or the other team strongly then. state of origin doesnt have to be pretty to be exciting. its more about beating the shit out of the other team than scoring a heap of points.
Hoff, I've been a huge Queensland supporter for as long as I can remember, but there is no way you can tell me the game last week was exciting. And both teams played soft anyway, so there was hardly any "shit beating" going on.

the most exciting matches between QLD and NSW that ive seen in a few years would have to be the Rugby Union matches..... This years SOG is shaping up to be one that will only be remembered for the controversy surrounding it rather then the actual match.

btw, good to see dickhead willie mason back to his bad boy self, ADHD must have got control of the deadshit cause he decided to go the blue in the Bulldogs vs Panthers match.

Hoff, I've been a huge Queensland supporter for as long as I can remember, but there is no way you can tell me the game last week was exciting. And both teams played soft anyway, so there was hardly any "shit beating" going on.

im guessin there was alot of beating going on b4 the game but thats another story :drunk:

State of Origin isn't as good as it used to be. There is not much blood and thunder now, it's just like another NRL game really. But it can still get the pulse racing, as I love beating those dirty blues so much.

When it first started it was magic, I was a 10 year old at the first game at Lang Park in 1980. I also went to one of the old format, pre-origin games.


On another Origin subject, I think the upsurge in Union has affected Qld more than NSW, after all Qld have lost Sailor, Tuquri and Rogers. Qld have always had fewer players to choose from, and losing 3 players of such quality is a big blow. Who has NSW lost? Maybe Walker?

Walker is back playing at Manly isnt he? players like blacklock and walker returned to league, Walker was never going to be cut out for the way more professional Wallabies squad. I can remember he went AWOL a couple of times or something, QLD has definetly been hit harder by losing 4 of there best players in recent years, Rogers, Sailor, Tuqiri and Tallis.Then theres old heads like Alfie Langer and Kevie Walters, i think the game has definetly gone down(from a QLDers pov) since players like these have left in the last 3-4yrs.

Brad Fittlers BACK!!
http://www.sportal.com.au/photos/news/051927news.jpg


SUNDAY JUNE 6, 2004

Fittler's NSW return
Sportal



Roosters veteran Brad Fittler is set to return to State of Origin after a meeting with New South Wales coach Phil Gould.

The Blues are in desperate need for a number six with several injuries to key players, and Fittler told ABC Radio that Gould had asked him to return.

New South Wales won the first match thanks to a field-goal from five-eighth Shaun Timmons, but he was considered a temporary measure and is also under an injury cloud.

Fittler, who earlier this year announced he would retire at season's end, hasn’t played State of Origin since 2001.



He was the youngest person to play Origin for NSW, and he captained the side 14 times from 1994 to 2001, as well as making 15 other appearances.

im waiting for another alfie langer return now :)

NSW by 15!! should be a bloody good encounter!

I'm feeling pretty good about Queensland at Lang Park, wish I was there. Right about now I would be at the Caxton.

Taking an extended lunch break at work today so I can go to the Puzzle Pub in Fulham to watch it. You get about 30 Aussies in there for an Origin game.

Who cares about Fittler being back? Lockyer is back..........THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!!!! Bar none! GO THE MAROONS!!! :)

crap. NSW should of been 3 tries in front at half time, but sloppy play/
no luck in second half either with a couple of disalowed tries.qld seem more hungry.
ah well looks like game 3 to decide. good win QLD!

What an awesome game, so much ball running.
Unlike the slippery conditions of origin 1 the boys had perfect conditions and really put on a show.
What an atmosphere! I challenge anybody to name an event that's too big for Lang Park. 52,478 people sounding like 100,000. What a sight. The only thing that can come close to an atmosphere like that is a Bledisloe Cup game.

How amazing was Slaters try?

well i am satisfied with that :)
willy mason is such a faggot though!

well i am satisfied with that :)
willy mason is such a faggot though!
faggot? lol, he was unstoppable. he thru them around like rag dolls!
lots of bad luck went NSW way.
fantastic tries scored. bummer of an ending.

What did i say? WHO CARES ABOUT FITTLER??? Hahaha. He was nearly crying in that interview! And that shot of Gus Gould walking down the tunnel before full time hanging his head........That was the best!!!! Gould is a germ. I like his interview, a few decisions went their (QLD's) way and they (QLD) did some freakish things. They weren't freakish they were skillfull!! Bring on game 3 where QLD will run over the top of NSW. I can't wait! :)

fittler had a pretty good game. he only bombed one play near the end which could of led to a try.
i think NSW will have learnt alot tonight and will be very hard to beat game 3. i just wish they had more of the good players in.i could only imagine if the worlds best player (Andrew Johns) was playing.
anyway

Great game, I don't know where Gould gets off talking about Qld getting decisions, I was raging at NSW's lack of 10 metres, and many forward passes (like the first game) throughout the game.

I was worried in the beginning, especially when the Qld fullback stuffed up clearing the ball. Did he really think he could catch it and run it back upfield, he should have punched it into row Z. He made a couple of other schoolboy type errors as well, but he did show some good play.

The NSW try just before half time nearly killed me off, very slack play from Qld to allow that. In fact quite often they didn't defend well from broken play.

But the second half, good turn around, the defence was thumping, it seemed to be a real deliberate tactic to actually pick the ball carrier up and smash him down.

The double kick try was a gem, and when the next one was scored I thought game over, but NSW did come back and I got worried that a Qld style "miracle" comeback was on the cards. Especially after the terrible defence (and good NSW play) that led to the last try. Thankfully it wasn't to be, the NSW guy who raked the ball in a 2 man tackle in the 78th minute must be a complete dunce.

Once again the NSW commentary nearly drove me mad. I know Fatty is there, but he has become just a buffoon now. Sterlo and Rabbits's, "look's like a QLD forward pass", "I don't think it looks like a try", etc, etc is very annoying. The hardly ever make the same sort of comments back the other way.

^^ how you watching the game in london

Who won?

^^ how you watching the game in london

In a pub, it's live on Sky Sports here, as is a lot of League, Union and AFL games from home.

And tonight I will be watching a replay at the Shepherds Bush Walkabout, sing when your winning is my motto. But in respect of the quite few Aussies who will have been avoiding the result I won't be giving it away.

In a pub, it's live on Sky Sports here, as is a lot of League, Union and AFL games from home.

And tonight I will be watching a replay at the Shepherds Bush Walkabout, sing when your winning is my motto. But in respect of the quite few Aussies who will have been avoiding the result I won't be giving it away.

Live in England...Live in NZ,but here in Melbourne....delayed until 10.30pm....Its a joke....

Who won?
QLD 22-18

:)

As a person who doesn't normally watch sport I did happen to see that guy? - the Queensland guy kick and run with the ball to score a try (please forgive my terms) - I really understand now why people 'go off' when watching sports, it was fantastic!!!

Wow - such skill is quite impressive, and he was smiling though the whole thing.

I still am an AFL person at heart because I don't understand this game much.

jt

Ex-Sydney,

You heard of pay tv?

Most of Melbourne doesnt really give a continental about NSW v QLD in the State of Origin.

I personally love it, but markets dictate, and the Melbourne market has said no. Thats no joke.

Did they ever show the Vic v SA State of Origin games live into Sydney??? Hardly likely.

As a person who doesn't normally watch sport I did happen to see that guy? - the Queensland guy kick and run with the ball to score a try (please forgive my terms) - I really understand now why people 'go off' when watching sports, it was fantastic!!!

Wow - such skill is quite impressive, and he was smiling though the whole thing.

I still am an AFL person at heart because I don't understand this game much.

jt
That was Slater.

I can't believe Phill Gould is claiming he was off side. QLD usually get the shit end of the stick from the ref but the minute we get a line ball decision the NSW camp cry foul.
Hypocracy Central.

Amaruu... they have Vic vs SA state of origins now?!?

lol.

slater wasnt offside, i saw the replays... it was directly inline, as the commentaters said when it happened. Phil Gould was funny when he went into the tunnel

I saee on the channel 7 news this morning that Phil Gould was calling for the sacking of referee Sean Hamstead. When asked did he want him for game 3, his reply was, "Yeah i want him, i want him as far away as possible!!" What a bad sport!! The news readers were commenting on his bad sportsmanship, and no this wasn't the Brisbane edition of the news, it was the national edition which is from Sydney!! Just goes to show when things don't go his way, what sort of a sook he really is! Suck it is all i can say. Sorry Cullawurra, i can't agree on you on the best player in the world. It has to be Darren Lockyer, and i'm sure i would have plenty of people agreeing with me on this one. As far as i'm concerned, Andrew Johns is overrated!! Not to mention injury proned. I think he has had his day.

Andrew Johns is a good player, but he is no Allan Langer, Mark Murray, Peter Sterling or Chris Mortimer.

Dorren Lockyer is the best. My fav player for 6 years... back when he was wearing the No.1 Jersey in broncos.. and converting tries!

he came to my school..(all the broncos did) and i got all their signatures (including langer =D)

TV ratings are out. It was Brisbane's highest rating Origin 2 since 1980 with an average of 811,000 viewers.

This compares to the 600,000 Brisbanites that watched Penrith beat Sydney City in last years NRL Grand Final and the 575,000 viewers that watched the Brisbane Lions win 3 in a row.

was the skycam giving anyone else the shits?? it was zooming all pver the place and keep coming into shot on the odd occasion. i thought it was the ball a couple of times and it got really distracting

didnt bother me that match(skycam), it was rather interesting watching that try that NSW got on skycam, the camera was behind then and although it was wonky at least you could see the whole play rather then just close ups of the person as todays camerman are tending to do...

Actually the best camera angle is on the 50m line several meters up in the air,rather then this chopping and changing shit, with the one camera at least you can see the plays unfold and see whether the other playes are.

still if skycam had better clarity and was a bit more stable it would be fantastic

was the skycam giving anyone else the shits?? it was zooming all pver the place and keep coming into shot on the odd occasion. i thought it was the ball a couple of times and it got really distracting

I didn't like it either. The picture quality was very poor. I hope it isn't around for the next match.

It came quite close to the players at points during the game and it won't be long before it hits a player or a ball is sent flying into it.

Full credit to Queensland on their win. NSW were outclassed during the game especially during the second half.

As for Phiil Gould's display at the end, by walking into the tunnel was a very bad display of unsportsmanship. The coach must stay with their team until the end, even if they are being hammered.

didnt bother me that match(skycam), it was rather interesting watching that try that NSW got on skycam, the camera was behind then and although it was wonky at least you could see the whole play rather then just close ups of the person as todays camerman are tending to do...

Actually the best camera angle is on the 50m line several meters up in the air,rather then this chopping and changing shit, with the one camera at least you can see the plays unfold and see whether the other playes are.

still if skycam had better clarity and was a bit more stable it would be fantastic

that try that rooney scored looked like it was a computer game. the quality definitely needs to be improved

I like this comment from the NSW Captain,

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/17/1087245046229.html

The energy of the Brisbane crowd got the Maroons home. "We'll have nearly twice as many at Telstra Stadium [for the decider on July 7] but they'll make half the noise," said NSW captain Danny Buderus after the match.


And what the hell is going on with the NSW team selections,

However, the indications are Fittler may not be available for Origin III. He is very committed to the Roosters and one senior NSWRL official said: "Nick [Politis] doesn't want him to play."


Does Politis pick the team now? And who only offers themselves for one game, surely you are picked, and are honoured to play for your state. I know as a Queenslander that is how I would feel.

Ex-Sydney,

You heard of pay tv?

Most of Melbourne doesnt really give a continental about NSW v QLD in the State of Origin.

I personally love it, but markets dictate, and the Melbourne market has said no. Thats no joke.

Did they ever show the Vic v SA State of Origin games live into Sydney??? Hardly likely.

They should care...
Its a major sporting event.Just because it wasnt played in Melbourne,or didnt have Victorian interest should not prevent it being shown live into Melbourne,as an AFL GF is shown live into Sydney/Brisbane.
Last weeks Australia v Scotland in Melbourne...shown live into Melbourne.This weeks Australia v Scotland in Sydney....set your VCRs closer to midnight....a joke....

As for PayTv for State of Origin,it aint live on there either.

^ It being a major sporting event is debatable. Sure, it may be a case of life and death to NSW and QLD, but to the rest of the world, its a match which doesnt mean much other than good entertainment value because of alot of boof.

The AFL Grand Final is shown live into Sydney and Brisbane, but I believe the ARL Grand Final is shown live into Melbourne. So its a case of Grand Final for Grand Final.

But when SA used to play Victoria in Aussie Rules State of Origin, you trying to tell me that Sydney showed it live? Extremely doubtful. As if Sydney would care about SA v Victoria. Well its similar isnt it? As if Melbourne cares about NSW v QLD.

Well if it aint live on Pay TV, then thats a joke. But whose fault is that?

^ It being a major sporting event is debatable. Sure, it may be a case of life and death to NSW and QLD, but to the rest of the world, its a match which doesnt mean much other than good entertainment value because of alot of boof.

The AFL Grand Final is shown live into Sydney and Brisbane, but I believe the ARL Grand Final is shown live into Melbourne. So its a case of Grand Final for Grand Final.

But when SA used to play Victoria in Aussie Rules State of Origin, you trying to tell me that Sydney showed it live? Extremely doubtful. As if Sydney would care about SA v Victoria. Well its similar isnt it? As if Melbourne cares about NSW v QLD.

Well if it aint live on Pay TV, then thats a joke. But whose fault is that?
True, but then QLD didn't care about QLD-NT vs whoever in the AFL State of Origin. We didn't have the depth and many players from all states put playing for their club before playing for their state.
It's no wonder the concept died. The intensity, and desire to represent ones state just didn't seem to be there.
If the AFL tries a resurection, they would be better off creating a Tri-Series between Victoria, WA and SA.
Keep it simple, between the states with the history and hype.

What makes Origin so successful is the history and intensity. It means something. Half the country stops in it's tracks and often you end up with an absolutely amazing spectacle.
Wednesday was one of those occassions. Anybody that appreciated a good spectacle would be in awe.

^ I believe you are referring to the 'Allies' concept, a team comprising any non SA, WA and Vic players. In other words, any players from NSW, ACT, QLD, NT and TAS would play for the Allies. That concept was a joke. You had champions like Buckley, captain of Collingwood, who would be picked for the Allies, and there he is having to tell the media what an honour it is to play for the Allies.

I agree that it should have remained WA, SA and Vic. Vic versus SA in particular were always good matches, with the results split pretty much 50/50.

And you are correct, the priority in AFL is to win a premiership for your club. I remember that legend player from the Brisbane Broncos, he won 3 premierships with them I think, I forgot his name now, but he retired a few years back and then made a comeback for QLD in the state of origin, and he said after the game that it was the highlight of his career, moreso than winning the premierships with the Broncos. I remember thinking that that would never be said by an AFL player because in the AFL, it's all about winning the premiership.

I dont think the AFL will try to resurrect the origin series because there priority is now the Australia v Ireland Gaelic series which is played at the end of the season.

As for the NSW v QLD matches not being shown live into Melbourne, I can appreciate Ex-Sydney's frustration. I mean I would be pissed too if I was living in Sydney and they didnt show Vic v SA in the AFL live. But what you gonna do? The decision makers on Channel 9 have come to the conclusion that it doesnt rate in Melbourne. So unfortunately for Ex-Sydney and other ex-pat NSW and QLDers, they miss out. I personally love watching those games. Particualrly last year I don't ever recall seeing such a bruising encounter, and I remember players walking off punch drunk. I loved it. But unfortunately, the free to air tv stations will only put on what the majority wanna see, and thats to the detriment of the minority.

As for pay tv, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for not having it live.

I dont think the AFL will try to resurrect the origin series because there priority is now the Australia v Ireland Gaelic series which is played at the end of the season.

As for the NSW v QLD matches not being shown live into Melbourne, I can appreciate Ex-Sydney's frustration. I mean I would be pissed too if I was living in Sydney and they didnt show Vic v SA in the AFL live. But what you gonna do? The decision makers on Channel 9 have come to the conclusion that it doesnt rate in Melbourne. So unfortunately for Ex-Sydney and other ex-pat NSW and QLDers, they miss out. I personally love watching those games. Particualrly last year I don't ever recall seeing such a bruising encounter, and I remember players walking off punch drunk. I loved it. But unfortunately, the free to air tv stations will only put on what the majority wanna see, and thats to the detriment of the minority.

As for pay tv, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for not having it live.Yeah, at least the AFL is starting to establish a popular representative series (especially in Ireland).
Your spot on with the ratings thing. No doubt that's why the second rugby test wasn't broadcast live.
I'm not sure about the Pay-TV thing but it may be because they can't live broadcast games that are shown on commercial television.
Again I'm not sure, but there are some queer media rules relating to free to air content and what can and can't be shown live on Pay-TV.

its going to be one hell of a game tonight! blues by 16!

Go NSW!!!!

Rumors have been going around about Gordon Tallis playing tonight for QLD. He flew into Sydney today but he insists he flew in to just play for the Bronco's in their match against the Dragons in Wollongong on Friday night.

If I remember the AFL origin sides were Vic, SA, WA and The Allies (comprising of the other states) and that channel seven did the games live into Sydney like they would do at weekends.

It needs to come back and the fans would love it. I would like to see an AFL version of NSW Vs QLD.

wow, 18-8 NSW. just about halftime! there running hot tonight! QLD have had many more penalties.
the saints connection-barret, gasnier ,timmons are running rampat!! :cucumber:

wow , i said by 16, close.
NSW are running away with it! even big willie went for a 50m sprint!lol
nice to see Freddy F get a try under posts in his last game!
on ya Gould! also goes out a winner!
currently 36-14
NSW now lead series 11-10!

Bad performance from Qld tonight, NSW looked like a bigger, stronger and fitter team. Qld made some terrible blunders as well.

I thought the referee let NSW away with dropped balls and line decisions when the game was in the balance, he also totally chickened out of what should have been a penalty try with a NSW player in the bin for 10 as well. But overall NSW were the better team, the referee didn't miss all of those tackles for us, or fail to stop the ball carrier, or hold off tackles so infuriatingly.

I think QLD are still ahead over all, 14-11, it's been going on since 1980, so that's 25 years of competition. 14 years to 11 have ended up with Qld doing a victory lap with the trophy.

I find some NSW people tend to be very selective with the statistics they quote, with reference to so called drawn series (no such thing, look who celebrated and retained the prize) and also to a non-counting exhibition game held in the US in 1987.

What a game! Capacity crowd 82,487. !

Wish I was there, left it too late :(. would have been fuckin awesome.

See the thing...QLD FORGOT TO FUCKING TACKLE!!!! Not happy at all, shit performance by Qld.

slater had a pretty shit game, he dropped the ball at least 2 times before he did anything half decent. well done to the blues on the series win but queensland played like garbage last night :bash:

I think QLD are still ahead over all, 14-11, it's been going on since 1980, so that's 25 years of competition. 14 years to 11 have ended up with Qld doing a victory lap with the trophy.

Well NRL.com.au says NSW lead now for the first time in history.

im sure 11-10 doesnt count the draws...
fair enough... comon how do u LOSE a draw?

Do the sums on 25 years, you must have 25 results, i.e 14-11, not 10-11, the NRL site is doing a bit of creative accounting. NSW did lose the "draws" as Queensland retained the series. Going into the game Qld knew that a draw won the trophy, and in the last few minutes with the scores locked, they played safe football.

Look at the Sheffield Shield, on many occasions it is won by the home side drawing the final. That's what it takes to win the trophy, draw the game, win the series.

Also the first 2 years of origin were one off games, Qld winning in both years.

The long and short of it is, in 25 years, 14 of them have had Qld as the champion state.

yeah the official win/loss series is NSW 11, QLD 10.

I'm guessing "Minnechello" is Italian for "cheating bastard".
Sing should have been awarded a penalty try and Minners sent off for such a blatent professional foul. Slater got screwed when he was taken over the horizontal and was it O'meally who took out Civinoceva without the ball?

Anyway, it didn't matter. The blues were way too good.
Bring on next year.

Congrats to Phil Gould, it couldn't have happened to a nicer prick.

Cheers Crocker, at least we won the "Bring back the biff" segment.

I guess no matter how many times you point out the obvious NSW people can't accept it. And what is put on a NSW run NRL website is not going to change the facts.

25 years, 14 to Qld, 11 to NSW.

the question is...

what if nsw had retained a series due to a technicality.

would your opinion change?

mine wouldnt. so i still wouldnt count it!

It wasn't a technicality. It was the rules, I was at the first of those draws and it was celebrated as the series win that it was. There was no, "lets look in the rule book to see what this means". Everyone knew, before, during and after the game that a draw in the last match would mean Qld won the series.

When the players were doing a lap of honour with the trophy, and the fans were going mad celebrating a Qld series victory no-one was talking about this will go down in history as a drawn series. Both sides didn't take the lap of honour.

This entire NSW revision of history is becasue deep down you are embarsed that in 25 years of competition, the so called inferior Queenslanders, from the state with half of your population has won the competition more times.

You can bet if this was the other way around NSW would be calling them series wins.

you cant win a series if the game is a draw. thats silly. thats why the crrect outcome is 11-10. its official!

So Qld has won the series ten times and retained the trophy an additional three, compared to NSW's eleven series wins... LOL

:tiasd:

Small consolation after last night's calamity. But we'll be back.

Cul, I have said it all above a few times.

Of course you can, the other team has to win it from you, otherwise you retain the trophy. Which means you have won the series. It's so basic, which team celebrated, which team kept the trophy? That was the rules that were in place, everyone knew it in advance.

Look for an example at the Sheffield Shield, on many occasions the state that has won the shield actually drew the final. They drew the game, but they won the Shield.

Another example would be the Bledisloe Cup, for many years that was a 2 game series, and whenever it was split 1-1, the holding country won the Bledisloe Cup.

Also in series such as the ashes, if it finshes 2-2, with a drawn game, whoever had the ashes before the series started retains them, thus winning the ashes.

Boxing as well, if you draw a title fight against the champion, he retains his belt, he is still champion.

well they didnt actually "win"

all they did was "retain" the trophy!!!

there is a difference.

so the series was a draw.. the only thing that happened was that they kept the trophy... just for another year.... its not counted as a win.

so it wasnt counted as a win by the official national rugby league!!!

11-10 baby!!!

Great game. Well done Blues

Smashed 'em.
NSW were lucky not to loose a player...

Another stunning performance by the blues. Queensland were just overwhelmed.

I was proud of the Saints players especially Trent Barrett, Matt Cooper and Mark Gasiner whom scored some great tries for the blues but I thought Fittlers try was the best of all intercepting the ball and then running 30 metres to score it. I'm surprised he didn't get man of the match but he got the send off he deserved.

Craig Fitzgibbon did well with the boot performing some excellent conversions from very tricky angles. He has learned a few lessons from Wilko for sure.

I was not impressed by Goulds comments about his time at the helm. I'm sure he could of said something better about them, especially since they were so successful as a side but also had to contend with some pretty big challenges including the phone sex incident which threaten to dampen the Blues campgain, which by the end had become a distant memory.

Gasiner apparently played for 20 mins with a broken collarbone and is out for a month. Not good for my beloved Dragons!!!!