We’ve been blessed with some gripping epic sport rivalries this month. The Nadal-Djokovic rivalry continues to close in on the historical importance of the Nadal-Federer one with the Spaniard beating the Serb in their fourth consecutive Grand Slam finals meeting, this time in Paris. Euro 2012 kicked off with close encounters and major instances of soccer hooliganism! The boxing world cried “rigged” when Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao under dubious circumstances. The Olympics are on the horizon. The AFL competition is as wide as it’s ever been and the NBA has its dream finals series with Lebron James and the Miami Heat up against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in a match up that’s equal parts Mighty Ducks 2, Revenge and The Empire Strikes Back. But the granddaddy of them all (at least for Australian sports fans) takes place tonight in Sydney’s ANZ stadium as The Maroons of Queensland face The Blues of New South Wales in game two of the 2012 State of Origin series. Here are four things to look out for…
1) CAN QUEENSLAND MAKE HISTORY? A win tonight clinches a record seventh consecutive Origin series for Queensland and seven straight losses for the Blues – a period of sustained origin dominance which begs one major question: has Queensland been historically awesome or has New South Wales been historically terrible? We’re leaning towards the former (with emphasis on QLD’s mercurial personnel) but still invest some stock into psychological intangibles like a “winning culture” and the “Queenslander mentality”. To put that in to perspective, the most dominant origin stretches prior to this run were five consecutive series wins for Queensland from ’80-’85 and three for New South Wales from ’92-’94 and again from ’03-’05, with ’05 also being the last time they won an Origin series. Do we realise how historically sucky that is? Here are things that just happened around the time New South Wales last won an Origin series: TheFacebook.com dropped the “the” in its domain name, Barack Obama swore in as a little known Senator for the state of Illinois and Crash won the Best Picture Oscar over Brokeback Mountain. That shit was an eternity ago! An eternity! But we digress…
2) WORLD RECORD WIG OUT New South Wales supporters group Blatchy’s Blues will attempt to break the world record for most people wearing a wig in one place at the same time. A record set at 9316 people in America back in 2006. The group’s founder Dan Blatch said that more than 15,000 Blues supporters and 3000 Maroon counterparts will don wigs from the fifth to the 15th minute of the match while over 100 Guinness World Record officials count heads. Our feeling? A shite record to be part of, but a record nonetheless.
3) THE AFL WILL BE WATCHING Despite a larger, wider and more passionate club level fan base (let’s be real here you guys), the AFL recently decided not to revive its long-dormant State of Origin series. Why? Because the problems they face are basically unheard of in a two state duopoly like Rugby League. On a logistical level, a national code is just not conducive to a state on state competition. With traditional hotbeds in Victoria and South Australia, what becomes of representatives from Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory? If we include all of them do we use a multi-state knockout system? How many extra games would players have to play during each regular season? Where and when would you fit it on the schedule? It’s a nightmare for administrators but you’d think the enduring success of The Maroons vs. The Blues, a marquee event which far exceeds the care factor and attention level of any Rugby League Grand Final that’s ever taken place, suggests that a similar event would be worth the headaches in AFL. Recently, players have offered an alternative solution with Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury calling for an All-Stars style weekend in the vein of the NBA. He proposes a main event where two superstars pick teams schoolyard style with periphery events like distance competitions, goal kicking shoot outs, skills tests and a rookies vs sophomores game. Ummm…We would watch ALL of that. Get onto it AFL.
4) CAN TODD CARNEY STEP UP? Today’s Daily Telegraph feels a bit like a self-actualisation pamphlet – “In Todd We Trust” it reads. But has he earned it? The Blues halves have to dominate play if they’re a chance tonight and the Sharks five-eighth has yet to show the decisive running and decision making which won him the job in the first place. His kicking game remains key, as does his aggression, but it’s his penetration at ground level: peeling off the forward pack, running at the line, creating second phase play and catching the Queensland defense off-guard which will be the true difference maker tonight. If he can do that, New South Wales have a great chance of evening up the series.
