Shannon Noll performs pre-match entertainment for Origin Game II
An Australian Idol icon has been roasted by fans after a bizarre pre-game performance ahead of State of Origin Game II.
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With NSW desperately chasing what would be a historic win in Game II at Suncorp Stadium, the Blues were buoyed by proud support in the pre-match entertainment.
The Living End performed in Adelaide for Game I to a raucous reception at Adelaide Oval, despite broadcasters Channel 9 cutting away to an ad break during the middle of the set.
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For Game II, organisers have looked to traditional rugby league country, with Orange-born Shannon Noll kicking off the night.
Noll is best known for his controversial loss to Guy Sebastian in the very first season of Australian Idol in 2003, becoming a popular internet meme over a decade after the fact.
In 2015, several Facebook pages popped up seeking justice for Noll, and by 2016, a push had started to get Noll to popular music festival Groovin’ The Moo.
Since his runner-up finish on the reality show, he has released two number-one multi-platinum sellers, and his first ten singles all peaked inside the ARIA top ten, with three number one songs.
His debut single, a cover of the 1981 Moving Pictures song “What About Me?” was certified 4x platinum and was the highest selling single of 2004.
Despite being expected to perform the modern classic, along with other hits such as ‘Shine’, ‘Drive’ and ‘Loud’, Noll opened with a live KFC advertisement that baffled fans at Suncorp Stadium.
“Did the NRL just make Shannon Noll perform a full song about the KFC Friday Night Footy jingle?” asked a bemused Curtis Woodward on Twitter.
“Shannon Noll singing a KFC ad at Origin has to be as low as things could ever get #RIPTina,” said another fan on social media.
ABC Sport’s Nick Campton said he could scarcely believe his eyes.
“If I wasn’t seeing Shannon Noll open his pre-game set with a KFC jingle I’d refuse to believe it happened,” Campton said.
“Who needs Taylor Swift when you’ve got Shannon Noll at Suncorp Stadium singing a song about footy and chicken,” said Brisbane Times editor Sean Parnell.
Channel 9 was criticised for cutting away from The Living End’s set at Game I, and the network chose not to show any of Noll’s performance at all, infuriating fans.
Brad Fittler has a massive task ahead of him at Lang Park, with Queensland having won 80 per cent of their home games since 2012.
Fittler is looking to break up convention in a desperate attempt to keep his job in Brisbane, starting Cowboys rake Reece Robson on Origin debut over Souths’ Damien Cook, having dropped the incumbent Cook for Wests’ Api Koroisau for Game I, before Koroisau sustained a broken jaw against Gold Coast.
Fittler has also switched up the wings for the Blues, playing Brian To’o and Josh Addo-Carr on opposite wings to negate the aerial threat of Queensland’s Xavier Coates.
The Blues will also have fresh faces in the halves, with Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses replacing the injured Nathan Cleary at halfback, in the absence of Souths’ Latrell Mitchell.
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