@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.