Enemy Territory - Origin I

Wow, how good was last night Queensland fans!! The mighty Maroons opened their quest for a 5th straight series win with a pretty impressive win in trying conditions. I was there, live at the ground, in enemy territory (and torrential rain), and loved every minute of it.

Last week I spoke about tribalism and passion within the rugby league community. I highly recommend following your Origin team on an away trip – especially when your team is just about the greatest ever seen.

On the road

Gee it felt good boarding an early afternoon flight to Sydney with quite a few Queensland supporters all proudly wearing the gear. All you needed was a wink and a nudge, not even that, to know we were going as one to support our team. At this time of year, in the city of Brisbane, the rugby league community is united as one.

Landing in Sydney we knew it was enemy territory. For starters, it was WET and COLD!! I must confess though, I was disappointed in the Sydney-siders.

To get to where I was staying, I spent nearly an hour on trains, including 15 minutes standing on the platform at Central Station, in full Maroon gear and did NOT get heckled, gibed, ribbed or abused even once. Come on Sydney, really! If I showed up at Brisbane’s Central Station wearing Blue just hours before an Origin, I would cop plenty. Most in good fun of course, but there would be something at least!

There was a bit more fun waiting for a bus to take us to the ground. Within seconds of arriving at the bus stop we were told “Wrong bus, fellas!” followed by more grumbling as people squashed up to let “dirty Queenslanders” on board. Then though, we saw fellow Maroons and things were good. We were first off the bus and as we walked past, right up the back of our bus were two lonely Queenslanders who with a pat of the jersey and a thumbs up, united us all as one again.

ANZ Stadium

As I’ve said before, this was my first trip to Homebush and I quite enjoyed it. Yeah it’s a bit of a pain to get to with traffic and crowded trains, but once there I had no complaints. We were sitting in the official Queensland supporters section, with the brothers, and as we looked out across the stadium it did look pretty cool facing the sea of blue swallowing us.

I know what you’re thinking and the answer is yes, we got a tad wet. It “officially poured” in the early stages but with our trusty red ponchos we were actually reasonably comfortable. I loved it anyway – the rain, the cold, the blue, it all reminded us of where we were and what we’d come to do. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

There was plenty of banter, booing, cheering and chanting as you’d expect. The camaraderie with these completed strangers bound only by football is pretty special. And chanting “na-na-na-na goodbye” as the Blues fans left the Eastern stand fairly early was pretty good fun too!

Beer – or lack of

ANZ Stadium ... what’s doing with this? Warning to Brisbane-based Queensland fans, you will be appalled at what I’m about to share.

The bars shut, yes SHUT, just minutes after halftime. Yep, no more beer for at least the last half hour of the game. From where we come from, Suncorp Stadium, that just does not happen. Especially at Origin time. There were plenty around us who made the trek down for the match and this didn’t sit well.

Sydney, you don’t get out of this either. With ANZ Stadium in the middle of nowhere we made our way into Sydney City, The Rocks to be specific. We got there at 11pm and the place was DEAD!! After the beer fiasco at the game, we wanted to celebrate our win and virtually everywhere was shut or wouldn’t let us in (not for being too drunk either). That doesn’t happen in Brisbane, we celebrate whether we win, lose or draw.

The Match

Yes there was a game on too last night and yes, we actually watched most of it (which doesn’t always happen during Origin). I thought Queensland were very good in tough conditions. I think we were far from our best but we were all over the Blues save the opening 10 minutes or so.

I thought Matt Ballin did a great job filling in at hooker while Dave Shillington and Matt Scott were very good in the forwards. ‘Slammin’ Sam Thaiday is the best forward in the game today bar none while Petero, JT and Locky are just sheer class.

For the Blues, they keep picking the wrong team and we keep laughing in their face. I feel sorry for Brett Kimmorley because he has probably played his last Origin and they’ll scapegoat him. I feel sorry for Jamal Idris ... I love watching this boy play but he is just not ready to face Greg Inglis at Origin level. NSW have one shot at us – they have to try and bash us. They need to start a fight early and play close to that aggressive line. That’s the only shot they have at winning, and I’m not even convinced that will work.

TIPPING
Tips – Dragons, Tigers, Brisbane, Cowboys, Storm, Penrith, Titans
Last Week – 4/5
Total – 43/81 (53%)

If you have any Origin thoughts to share, or anything else, please email (andrew.keyte@gmail.com), comment below or find me on Twitter (@keyto316).

Thanks for reading,
Keyto