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Wed June 3 2009, 8:00PM AEST GMT+10Wed Jun 3: Queensland Origin 28 d. New South Wales Origin 18 at
Telstra Dome, Docklands, Melbourne (VIC)Crowd: 50,967
Wed June 24 2009, 8:00PM AEST GMT+10Wed Jun 24: New South Wales Origin 14 l. Queensland Origin 24 at
ANZ Stadium (Sydney), Homebush Bay, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 80,459
Wed July 15 2009, 8:00PM AEST GMT+10Wed Jul 15: Queensland Origin 16 l. New South Wales Origin 28 at
Suncorp Stadium, Castlemaine Street, Milton, Brisbane (QLD)Crowd: 52,439
Thu June 25, 2009
I'M old enough to have covered the second game of the 1989 State of Origin series, when Queensland had only 12 men for the final five minutes and still managed to seal the title with a 16-12 win.
OK, I was two years out of high school and had to consult the record books for the facts I just used.
But anyway: the Maroons' heroics on Wednesday night weren't quite the equal of that but they were very, very close.
Even as Queensland ran out of troops - and those that remained on the battlefield wearied - your correspondent couldn't help feeling that a NSW win would have been a complete travesty.
As Mal Meninga said, in the face of all that adversity Queensland still managed to get the "result" - a try - in the closing minutes that NSW couldn't manage.
And did the Blues really deserve to benefit from Greg Inglis being belted out of the contest illegally?
What is really interesting now is that after NSW dominated Origin up to and including 2006, it was generally thought that Origin was in danger of collapsing.
No-one will say that now.
That's because Queensland IS Origin. The entire concept is based on the Maroons' jealousy of their higher-profile neighbours.
Queensland could win 11 Origin series in a row and State of Origin would still be in rude health.
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ACTUALLY, there was enough to fill this column even before last night's game - thanks to Brad Fittler's faulty memory and sense of altitude.
I've got a simple rule when it comes to criticising people in forums like this one: never bag someone for doing something that you've done yourself.
I have returned home with a few too many under the belt and knocked on the wrong hotel room door more times than I can remember. Actually, I probably couldn't remember it five minutes after doing it!
I do recall, at a Formule One just outside Cardiff during the 1995 World Cup, someone threatening to call the police as I tried to crawl in through a bathroom window - the wrong bathroom window - from the muddy bog outside.
I collected my shoe from said muddy bog the next morning.
That's not to say that getting that pissed is good. It just means I forgo the right to criticise anyone for it without being a hypocrite. I wonder how many of the reporters who grilled Freddie at Saturday's media conference had only staggered it from a night on Flinders Street a few nights before.
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HOW is the Global Financial Crisis affecting your footy coverage? Pretty badly, I can tell you.
Of the three daily papers available in Sydney, only one of them had a reporter at the Melbourne-Wests Tigers game on Sunday.
The other two covered the match off the television, producing a double-page spread and a section lead from a vantage point no better than yours.
The squeeze on travel budgets meant that when Gold Coast scored arguably their best win since returning to the competition - against Melbourne earlier this year - not one Queensland print media reporter was there to cover it.
The major commercial radio rights holder for our competition regularly calls games off the television.
Seats used to be at a premium in the Dairy Farmers Stadium press box. Now you can swan in at kick-off and get one.
The fact that dressing room access is much tighter than it used to be has forced reporters to settle for boring press conference quotes - particularly in night games - which has in turn made it easier for their bosses to justify not sending them to matches since everyone has access to these quotes anyway.
In two words: not good.
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THE next great story in rugby league will be a picture - taken from a grassy knoll - of someone handing over a brown paper bag to a player.
The salary cap has made the competition so much more even. But is it really completely level? Completely fair?
The NRL can't stop people paying cash to players but it is hardly the most outrageous allegation in the world to suggest it still happens from time to time.
We won't have a truly level playing field until we can honestly say the practice is "unlikely" - rather than "probable''. It's about public perception. What do you think?
While we're at it, to what extent do you trust the attendance figures announced during the second half of NRL games?
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QUOTE of the week goes to Mal Meninga, on Nate Myles' battles with a stomach bug before and during Origin II.
"Nate Myles actually wanted to come off to go to the toilet,'' Mal told last night's media conference.
"He handled that. I'd hate to see his jocks now.''
Thu June 25, 2009
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.auScans have this afternoon cleared Melbourne Storm centre Greg Inglis of serious injury.
It was feared last night that Inglis had suffered a small fracture in his jaw during Queensland's win over New South Wales in Game II of the State of Origin series.
But scans taken in Melbourne this afternoon showed Inglis had suffered bruising only.
"It's a massive relief," Inglis said.
"I'll be the first to admit that I was concerned about the results. It's a big weight off my shoulders."
Inglis and Queensland teammate Dallas Johnson, who has been battling a stomach virus, will be monitored over the next 48 hours.
Storm travel to Canberra on Saturday ahead of Sunday's round 16 National Rugby League clash against the Raiders.
Storm skipper Cameron Smith and fullback Billy Slater were this afternoon given a clean bill of health by club doctors after also playing starring roles in the Maroons' fourth successive series win.
Origin
New South Wales Origin 14 l. Queensland Origin 24
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