Origin 2022

‘WE NEED TO GET THE TAMENESS OUT OF ORIGIN’

While there’s plenty of excitement about the 2022 series opener, there are also growing concerns about the relatively timid build-up to Origin in recent years.

This shapes as an intriguing series because of the talent on both sides but there has been few, if any, shots fired between camps in the build-up to Game 1 — a stark contrast to the ‘wild days’ where the hatred across the border seemed to be genuine.

NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent said a “gradual decline” in interest in the Origin product was becoming a serious problem — one the NRL has privately acknowledged — and called on the players to take responsibility for selling the occasion.

“We need to get the tameness out of Origin. The players are so disciplined and so desperate not to cause any motivation to the opposition that was get the most boring lead-ups,” Kent said on NRL 360.

“It’s time for the game to get out there and start selling itself again.

“... Rugby league has got to stop assuming that people are always going to be there and that Origin is always going to be that game. It was built on the back of these wildcats from Queensland coming in with a pure hatred for NSW where whatever they said about NSW they didn’t give a rat’s arse whether the Blues cared about it or not.

“They went after NSW and they set up the whole Origin mystique on the back of that.

“Now you get the impression if they ran into each other in a restaurant they’d all walk over and say g’day and sit down and share a meal together.”

It has become a bit like a 4th quarter of the NBA all-star game. Guys want to win and play harder, but they’re all mates and have a laugh afterwards on the field.

Back in the day when it was easy to ‘hate the Broncos’ because 90% of the Qld Origin side played for them. It created this rivalry/animosity during the season amongst players and fans, that went up about 10 notches during Origin.

Now a lot of them are team mates and it’s about their brand and what they post on the socials before and after the game….

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

‘WE NEED TO GET THE TAMENESS OUT OF ORIGIN’

While there’s plenty of excitement about the 2022 series opener, there are also growing concerns about the relatively timid build-up to Origin in recent years.

This shapes as an intriguing series because of the talent on both sides but there has been few, if any, shots fired between camps in the build-up to Game 1 — a stark contrast to the ‘wild days’ where the hatred across the border seemed to be genuine.

NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent said a “gradual decline” in interest in the Origin product was becoming a serious problem — one the NRL has privately acknowledged — and called on the players to take responsibility for selling the occasion.

“We need to get the tameness out of Origin. The players are so disciplined and so desperate not to cause any motivation to the opposition that was get the most boring lead-ups,” Kent said on NRL 360.

“It’s time for the game to get out there and start selling itself again.

“... Rugby league has got to stop assuming that people are always going to be there and that Origin is always going to be that game. It was built on the back of these wildcats from Queensland coming in with a pure hatred for NSW where whatever they said about NSW they didn’t give a rat’s arse whether the Blues cared about it or not.

“They went after NSW and they set up the whole Origin mystique on the back of that.

“Now you get the impression if they ran into each other in a restaurant they’d all walk over and say g’day and sit down and share a meal together.”

It has become a bit like a 4th quarter of the NBA all-star game. Guys want to win and play harder, but they’re all mates and have a laugh afterwards on the field.

Back in the day when it was easy to ‘hate the Broncos’ because 90% of the Qld Origin side played for them. It created this rivalry/animosity during the season amongst players and fans, that went up about 10 notches during Origin.

Now a lot of them are team mates and it’s about their brand and what they post on the socials before and after the game….

I think social media, higher salaries, and other factors are probably more the reason for the declining interest than Broncos players in the Qld team. The hate and passion were there long before the Broncos came into being. The first SOO I watched in full was 1988. Not many Broncos in that team:

The players are different and society is different maybe? I legit had no clue this was even on today until this morning.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

Origin fucking needs an edge or it will die.

Here's hoping. Nah, I think it's fine for you blokes who want to watch, I just wish that it would get reevaluated and viewed below test footy.

Origin's footprint has been vanishing though even just since I've been living here. There's no marketing for it in Sydney at a time when the place is full with people due to Vivid. There used to be banners and I'd see promotions with Hindy and Fletch out and about. I haven't even seen an advertisement about it this year.

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

Origin fucking needs an edge or it will die.

Here's hoping. Nah, I think it's fine for you blokes who want to watch, I just wish that it would get reevaluated and viewed below test footy.

Origin's footprint has been vanishing though even just since I've been living here. There's no marketing for it in Sydney at a time when the place is full with people due to Vivid. There used to be banners and I'd see promotions with Hindy and Fletch out and about. I haven't even seen an advertisement about it this year.

Origin likely gets more viewers around the world than some test match so would be challenging to place it below it or elevate tests.

Other than World Cups (and again they are a bit of a laugh), league tests don’t really mean much given it has been a club based focused sport for generations.

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

Origin fucking needs an edge or it will die.

Here's hoping. Nah, I think it's fine for you blokes who want to watch, I just wish that it would get reevaluated and viewed below test footy.

Origin's footprint has been vanishing though even just since I've been living here. There's no marketing for it in Sydney at a time when the place is full with people due to Vivid. There used to be banners and I'd see promotions with Hindy and Fletch out and about. I haven't even seen an advertisement about it this year.

Origin likely gets more viewers around the world than some test match so would be challenging to place it below it or elevate tests.

Other than World Cups (and again they are a bit of a laugh), league tests don’t really mean much given it has been a club based focused sport for generations.

That has coincided with the rise of origin and the NRL being all powerful. Test league used to be hugely popular.

I haven't watched a full origin game in the 2000s. Back in the late 1980s and 1990s it was must-see sport because of the characters involved and the biff. Now, I have little interest.

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

Origin fucking needs an edge or it will die.

Here's hoping. Nah, I think it's fine for you blokes who want to watch, I just wish that it would get reevaluated and viewed below test footy.

Origin's footprint has been vanishing though even just since I've been living here. There's no marketing for it in Sydney at a time when the place is full with people due to Vivid. There used to be banners and I'd see promotions with Hindy and Fletch out and about. I haven't even seen an advertisement about it this year.

Origin likely gets more viewers around the world than some test match so would be challenging to place it below it or elevate tests.

Other than World Cups (and again they are a bit of a laugh), league tests don’t really mean much given it has been a club based focused sport for generations.

That has coincided with the rise of origin and the NRL being all powerful. Test league used to be hugely popular.

maybe the much vaunted "kangaroo tour" but all of my memories are the very few stirring NZ victories in between getting fucking pumped by Aus.

Now test league is an absolute joke, with every single team bar the poms being made up of Aussies who can find a link to the other nation somehow. And NZ losing guys who would once play for the kiwis, so we're shit too.

Origin started a decline with the rise of the QLd team that won every year, coinciding with the crackdown on the biff

At it's best, Origin was brutal football played with real passion. it was big hits, the softening up period, and the ever present chance of a stink
Now? it's basically like the Grand Final. Far more sanitised, far more corporate. Far more analytical. And the players probably didn't even grow up in the "hate" era. And look, it's lost some appeal.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

And look, it's lost some appeal.

That's ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRJN!!!! appeal you're talking about there.

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

And look, it's lost some appeal.

That's ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRJN!!!! appeal you're talking about there.

now that you've got that out of your system

kindly fuck off.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

And look, it's lost some appeal.

That's ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRJN!!!! appeal you're talking about there.

now that you've got that out of your system

kindly fuck off.

Yep. I'm spent.

You're right about the buildup tho. Tame.

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

And look, it's lost some appeal.

That's ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRJN!!!! appeal you're talking about there.

now that you've got that out of your system

kindly fuck off.

Yep. I'm spent.

You're right about the buildup tho. Tame.

still, even without a build up, they've sold out Sydney which might be a first.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@NTA said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

And look, it's lost some appeal.

That's ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRJN!!!! appeal you're talking about there.

now that you've got that out of your system

kindly fuck off.

Yep. I'm spent.

You're right about the buildup tho. Tame.

still, even without a build up, they've sold out Sydney which might be a first.

Long weekend coming up. More than a few would have taken Thursday-Friday off to get on the tins tonight.

Gotta say it is a fairly cracking day for it.

@Bovidae said in Origin 2022:

I haven't watched a full origin game in the 2000s. Back in the late 1980s and 1990s it was must-see sport because of the characters involved and the biff. Now, I have little interest.

Yup. Give me Geyer and Wally, broken staple guns, high shots and fisticuffs anyday. I don't sit down to watch Origin anymore, just check in from time to time while I'm watching something more interesting

it is the ultimate excuse for midweek beers. And even without the biff, the standard of league is pretty amazing. Even in a one-sided affair, the shit that Latrell and Tommy Turbo served up last year was incredible to watch.

And it can so often turn up a shock performance or result.

I an see why it's hard to watch in NZ, with how late it always kicks off i would be asleep by then!

@mariner4life some footy on a Wednesday night, I’ll take that any week! Will finish playing bball at about 8:30 come home, turn on the recording and fast forward all the breaks and eventually catch up to the live footage.

It may have declined in terms of what the actual game brings and it’s not really as hyped by media types and the rivalry is largely sanitised, but I always look forward to it because I follow league.

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life some footy on a Wednesday night, I’ll take that any week! Will finish playing bball at about 8:30 come home, turn on the recording and fast forward all the breaks and eventually catch up to the live footage.

It may have declined in terms of what the actual game brings and it’s not really as hyped by media types and the rivalry is largely sanitised, but I always look forward to it because I follow league.

yep, i heartily agree

but i have openly said what a Neanderthal i am. i miss the biff.

It’s depressing when you switch on the radio and hear that a guy seven years your junior ( Billy Slater ) is a coach.

Carn the Blues !!!!

These games still have great intensity, even if we don't have any biff. Although I suspect if Latrell was playing he would be doing a couple of dirty things.

Still looking forward to this one, hopefully I have finished work by kick off

and quality code (any code) midweek is always appreciated

@bayimports said in Origin 2022:

Latrell was playing he would be doing a couple of dirty things

class A grub.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

Origin fucking needs an edge or it will die.

Here's hoping. Nah, I think it's fine for you blokes who want to watch, I just wish that it would get reevaluated and viewed below test footy.

Origin's footprint has been vanishing though even just since I've been living here. There's no marketing for it in Sydney at a time when the place is full with people due to Vivid. There used to be banners and I'd see promotions with Hindy and Fletch out and about. I haven't even seen an advertisement about it this year.

Origin likely gets more viewers around the world than some test match so would be challenging to place it below it or elevate tests.

Other than World Cups (and again they are a bit of a laugh), league tests don’t really mean much given it has been a club based focused sport for generations.

That has coincided with the rise of origin and the NRL being all powerful. Test league used to be hugely popular.

maybe the much vaunted "kangaroo tour" but all of my memories are the very few stirring NZ victories in between getting fucking pumped by Aus.

Now test league is an absolute joke, with every single team bar the poms being made up of Aussies who can find a link to the other nation somehow. And NZ losing guys who would once play for the kiwis, so we're shit too.

Origin started a decline with the rise of the QLd team that won every year, coinciding with the crackdown on the biff

At it's best, Origin was brutal football played with real passion. it was big hits, the softening up period, and the ever present chance of a stink
Now? it's basically like the Grand Final. Far more sanitised, far more corporate. Far more analytical. And the players probably didn't even grow up in the "hate" era. And look, it's lost some appeal.

I loved those Kangaroo tour games and still loved seeing the Kiwis play (yeah probably more enjoyable against Great Britain than Oz as we were in with a shot in those games).

What's most annoying is that we're in an era when we can compete with the Kangaroos regularly and we barely get to play them.

Like I said, all good for you guys who enjoy watching it - but is the biff a bit exaggerated or is my memory faulty? Even from my days of intensely watching it I only really remember Geyer and Lewis. But I remember most of the big stuff from that era as it had a bunch of my favourite players - essentially all from NSW (Daley, Clyde, Lyons etc) and Steve Renouf.

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

What's most annoying is that we're in an era when we can compete with the Kangaroos regularly and we barely get to play them

we really are not. We are not even close.

@mariner4life maybe we were before the emergence of Tonga as a league team but not since

@bayimports said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life maybe we were before our the emergence of Tonga as a league team but not since

most especially once Tonga and even Samoa became viable options, all those "kiwis" have chosen elsewhere.

There are still a couple of top draw kiwis, but there aren't a lot, especially in the main positions.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@Nepia said in Origin 2022:

What's most annoying is that we're in an era when we can compete with the Kangaroos regularly and we barely get to play them

we really are not. We are not even close.

I said compete, not win. You're from a bay team that doesn't win all the time like me so shouldn't need constant wins to maintain your support.

Also, isn't the Tongan thing is a bit over done. Outside of JT, Taukeiaho, and Fonua-Blake (who was basically a fairweather Kiwi anyway) who else would the Kiwis want to select this year that will run out for Tonga?

right now if we got within 30 i would be impressed

James Fisher Harris is almost the best prop in the game.
Joey Manu arguably the best centre (also the best looking)

She gets a bit bare after that. Hughes nailed on to one half spot.

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@bayimports said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life maybe we were before our the emergence of Tonga as a league team but not since

most especially once Tonga and even Samoa became viable options, all those "kiwis" have chosen elsewhere.

There are still a couple of top draw kiwis, but there aren't a lot, especially in the main positions.

The Kiwis have barely an NRL level quality spine let alone one that can compete with the best of the best from OZ.

@ACT-Crusader said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@bayimports said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life maybe we were before our the emergence of Tonga as a league team but not since

most especially once Tonga and even Samoa became viable options, all those "kiwis" have chosen elsewhere.

There are still a couple of top draw kiwis, but there aren't a lot, especially in the main positions.

The Kiwis have barely an NRL level quality spine let alone one that can compete with the best of the best from OZ.

although we do have a good hooker who can play prop ha ha.... and I am not talking about Jazz

@mariner4life said in Origin 2022:

@bayimports said in Origin 2022:

@mariner4life maybe we were before our the emergence of Tonga as a league team but not since

most especially once Tonga and even Samoa became viable options, all those "kiwis" have chosen elsewhere.

And with so many Tongans and Samoans being brought up in Australia, those two teams are only going to get stronger.

The pool of islander players in Australia is pretty impressive - even if the Kangaroos nab a few of them, there's still so much talent left over for the islands.

Ya bloody pessimists. I'm always confident ... for the first 5 minutes at least.

Ah well, enjoy your Aussie lovefest tonight - I might watch the highlights over breakfast on that dud Kayo app so I can rejoin the thread tomorrow and pretend to have a clue what I'm talking about.

8.12

Still no kick off

@mariner4life Australia needs to have a national conversation about starting footy games on time.

The ball is in play so much more in League.

How good would Sotutu be in the NRL.

No time to post from your phone.

Game needs some proper biff though.

Well taken try, but goal line defence is weak by union standards. Not surprising given how much quicker this game is - players must be quite a bit smaller.

Game is way faster, but quite a lot less physical. Hits on defence aren't impressive. Kicking game is relatively poor too.

Overall, very repetitive and becomes boring pretty quickly.

Handling was very good, very few offloads though.

Jack's on 1 Tonight

Why was that try overruled?

@antipodean said in Origin 2022:

Why was that try overruled?

Obstruction

Origin is no longer hard, it's fast. The pace of the game is insane

DCE still sucks.
Newbies Carrigan and Cotter are killing it. Grant adding heaps from dummy half

But NSW look the better side so far. On a different night they have 3 tries. Qld can't keep giving them field position