If you, like the rest of the country, spent the weekend watching the new Netflix show Firefly Lane, you would have noticed two things: 1. incredibly hot Australian man Ben Lawson playing Johnny and somehow making a bad ’80s wig look criminally sexual and 2. said hottie casually wearing a vintage Queensland State of Origin jersey in one scene.
Maroons fans: they’re just unstoppable.
Anyway, it seems Brisbane-born Ben Lawson is so proud of this feat that he’s put it in his Instagram bio. Check it:
The jersey is not referred to at all in the show, he just wears it (very well, I might add) and then we move the fuck along. So for the average Australian Joe watching this very American show, it’s very funny to see a rogue Origin jumper pop up out of bloody nowhere.
In fact, if you go back through Lawson’s Instagram account (which I definitely did just to research this story and for no other purpose whatsoever, I swear) you’ll see that he posted about the jersey way back in 2019. 69 weeks ago, to be precise (he he he).
I mean, this man’s dedication to his art is second to none.
I did some digging around the Internet and came upon a Reddit thread that was discussing the sudden appearance of a vintage QLD jersey on a US Netflix show. One Redditor, nptoovey, claims to “know Ben from Uni” (ok, I’m jealous) and gives a bit of backstory as to how it all came to pass, saying that Ben Lawson told him:
“Yeah script said he’s lying around in trackies and an old sweater and I thought maybe I’ll suggest a footy jersey and I started thinking American teams and then I was like wait I’m Australian in this. Then I got online and started looking for a vintage one because the show is set 2003 and the jersey had to already be old by then. Happened to find a 91 qld origin jersey and was like my work here is done”.
Beautiful. Just beautiful. In every way.
Aside from the jersey and the fact that Ben Lawson is a babe, the show, also starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke (Elliot from Scrubs!) is also very enjoyable. You will smash through the whole thing and love it.
For now, as a NSW resident I simply must agree with the wise words of Redditor lemoopse, who commented on the post:
“Hate that jersey and those cunts but that is hot.”
Too right.
