Jackson Clark’s selection of the Northern Territory born players who could take it up to the Maroons and the Blues in State of Origin.
Almanac Rugby League – State of Origin 2015, Game 1: What it’s all about
May 27, 2015 by 3 Comments
What the might Maroons are fighting for – the Queensland way.
Almanac Rugby League – I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues: Why Origin 2015 is All Over Before it’s Even Started
May 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
There is nothing quite like someone who goes the “early crow”. And Archie shows us just how to go the early crow as he explains that the Blues have no chance in 2015 Origin.
Is Carlton v Collingwood still Australia’s greatest sporting rivalry or is it now the rugby league State of Origin?
June 19, 2014 by 6 Comments
Miles Wilkes uses attendances, TV ratings and history to answer whether Collingwood v Carlton has been overtaken by the NRL State of Origin as Australia’s number one sporting rivalry. The result may surprise.
Almanac Rugby League – State of Origin: Brilliant
May 29, 2014 by 11 Comments
“For minutes Loz Daley and crew had been pacing the coaches’ box drawn into the contest with a deeply satisfying un-professionalism. This was raw emotion. And tension will change us all.” writes JTH on another classic Origin.
Cats to host first final in Geelong – surely they’ve earned the right?
September 1, 2013 by 51 Comments
Haven’t Geelong earned the right to host a final (organised at the last minute)?
The View from Shepparton: A dearth of cricket talent
July 22, 2013 by 2 Comments
England, smash us in the cricket, we can cop that, but please don’t patronise us. That really hurts.
Almanac Rugby League – Origin II: The View from Schumacher
June 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
An Origin II recap – in verse – by the Shepparton bard, Peter Schumacher.
Almanac Rugby League – Mal’s Speech to the Boys on Game Two Eve
June 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Inspirational!
Almanac Rugby League – State of Origin: Alternative universe
June 7, 2013 by 3 Comments
Geoffrey Woolcock sides with The Pearl – Gallen’s hit had no place on the field, even in the alternative universe that is Origin. He wants to know how you see it.
WAFL topples VFL
May 14, 2013 by 2 Comments
AFL scheduling meant the State of Origin clash was always going to struggle to attract a crowd, which was a pity because a great game deserved more.
Almanac Rugby League: Yes, Virginia, there is meaning in rugby league
October 5, 2012 by 26 Comments
John Harms delivered the George Lovejoy Memorial Lecture in Brisbane.
We are not America
August 16, 2012 by 13 Comments
I read with much disinterest over the weekend of the proposed concept of an East vs West representative match in 2014. Come on people, we live in Australia not America. The concept was the ‘brainchild’ of the players I am led to believe so perhaps I’m just out of touch with the modern era. I [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – The fine line: Origin at its best
July 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
After Game I of this year’s State of Origin series, I made the point that Liam’s theory that there’s a fine line between winning and losing in SOO was alive and well. Two games later, it’s reinforced in spades. The margins were 8, 4 and 1 with an overall differential of +5 to Queensland. I [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – The Revolution can wait: radical Brisbane and rugby league
July 1, 2012 by 4 Comments
Queensland remains a wonderful place, full of obvious contradictions; the sort of contradictions which are hidden away in other places, the ones that work hard to present an air of sophistication and urbanity. Queensland’s down-on-the-farm, rent-a-holiday-unit-to-a-southerner conservatism prevails. But from colonial times Queensland has given rise to a small, energetic group of progressives; intellectuals and [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – The Fine Line
May 27, 2012 by 2 Comments
Two years ago, Liam Hauser’s history of Origin matches carried the subtitle The fine line between winning and losing.(State of Origin: 30 years, Rockpool Publishing, 2010) He demonstrated that rarely has there been any deviation from this observation of the ebb and flow of matches throughout the history of the concept. I think [Read more]
The View from Shepparton – Round 8
May 22, 2012 by 1 Comment
On Friday night, which seems now to be several years ago, Collingwood defeated Geelong by two goals in an absolute belter of a game. I thought that both teams played well below the standards that they achieved last year in terms of misdirected passes and handballs but that Collingwood were by far the superior team [Read more]
crio’s Q: All Stars? State of Origin? Am I missing something?
May 20, 2012 by 4 Comments
It is not unusual for me to miss the public’s “pulse”. But what a crock. Aussie Rules has a very successful, strong domestic comp. FULL STOP. Yawn. Predictably the Herald-Sun has pushed for State of Origin and then, amazingly, for an All-Stars v The Rest game. Interstate footy is irrelevant. The history of Origin’s purpose [Read more]
State of Origin 1982 (a reality check for today’s footballers)
May 14, 2012 by 6 Comments
Look what Pamela Sherpa found in her old scrap book: The Big V in a ‘crook’ state By Tom Prior the Sun Thursday July 8, 1982 Victoria will have to find at least two, possibly as many as four or five, new players for its team to play Western Australia in the state –of- origin [Read more]
Almanac Rugby League – A Potted Rugby League Memoir Part II
August 30, 2011 by 2 Comments
A POTTED PERSONAL MEMOIR (part 2) Returning to Queensland in 1984, it seemed like there was something different in the air when it came to rugby league. It didn’t take long to figure it out – State of Origin! I was familiar with the concept because the Australian Rules fraternity in the southern States had [Read more]
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