State of Origin 2015: 10 grubbiest acts in Origin history
STATE of Origin rugby league has had plenty of heroics but its had a share of ‘grubby’ incidents, too. Barry Dick nominates the 10 worst. Blog with him from 10am.
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STATE of Origin rugby league has had its share of heroics but its had a share of ‘grubby’ incidents, too. Barry Dick nominates the 10 worst.
The world has changed, of course, with political correctness ruling, even on the rugby league field unlike in the 1980s when Origin was promoted as out-and-out warfare.
Thanks to Paul Gallen and his flurry of punches in 2013, players these days stay strictly on the straight and narrow.
1. Les Boyd/Darryl Brohman, Game 1, 1983. Lang Park
The incident that ended one player’s season and virtually ended another’s career, occurred in just the 12th minute of the opening game of the 1983 series.
Brohman, making his Origin debut, was carting the ball up for the Maroons and Boyd took him out with a cocked elbow to the jaw.
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Referee Barry Gomersall didn’t see the incident and play was allowed to continue. Boyd wasn’t even sent off but was sin-binned later in the match after a series of infringements.
Brohman, who had been a teenage star for Norths Devils before heading to the Big Smoke, tried to play on but his jaw was so badly broken he missed the rest of the season.
Brohman’s club, Penrith, insisted Boyd be cited and he was suspended for 12 months. Brohman was never the same player and the Boyd citing was still causing problems 30 years later when he had a public falling out with the influential Bob Fulton over it. Brohman has a big media profile in Sydney as the “Big Marn” on Nine’s Footy Show, FM radio and Lowe’s TV ads.
2. Ben Kennedy/Steven Price, Game 2, 2003: Telstra Stadium
Referee Bill Harrigan and his touch judges missed this one but replays showed Kennedy’s forearm collecting Price across the jaw in the 25th minute of the match.
The Queenslander was flattened and Kennedy was put on report after advice from the video referee but Queensland did not even receive a penalty because play had progressed too far.
Kennedy was later suspended for four matches and missed the third game of the series which NSW, under Phil Gould, won 2-1.
3. Trent Barrett/Greg Inglis, Game 2, 2009, Telstra Stadium
NSW’s Barrett was an unlikely cheap-shot merchant, but there he was with a swinging arm which knocked Greg Inglis out of the last 60 minutes of the second 2009 game in Sydney.
Inglis was dominating the match so much it was hard to think Barrett’s knockout blow wasn’t deliberate. It didn’t help much, Queensland won the match 24-14.
Barrett was put on report and he was later banned for two NRL games, making him — you guessed it — available for Game Three.
4. Paul Gallen/Nate Myles, Game 1, 2014, ANZ Stadium
Myles wasn’t even looking when NSW captain Gallen landed a flurry of punches on his chin. Myles wasn’t hurt which said a lot about Gallen’s punching power.
In fact, the repercussions of Gallen’s actions hurt the game a lot more than his girlie slaps hurt Myles because the NRL went into panic mode over the “fight” and the damage it might cause to the code’s image.
As a result, punching was banned and the NRL decreed any player who threw a punch in club or representative football would be sent off.
So now we have the rugby league equivalent of handbags at 10 paces and every former player is holding his head in his hands.
5. Brett White/Steve Price, Game 3, 2009. Suncorp Stadium
Just to show there is no such thing as a dead rubber in Origin, the third game of the 2009 series (Queensland had won the first two) descended into chaos with the game already decided in the 79th minute.
White and Price, playing his 28th Origin match, traded wild punches before one of White’s connected and Price hit the ground like a felled tree.
What really stirred the Maroons was Blues forward Justin Poore’s action in lifting the kayoed Price up and dropping him back to the ground.
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NSW forward Trent Waterhouse was unlucky as the third man into the brawl and became the third player in history and the first Blue to be sent off. He was later exonerated.
After a five-minute delay Queensland took the penalty and then hoisted the ball high at the restart. NSW’s Kurt Gidley bravely took the “bomb” but another melee erupted and Sam Thaiday and Ben Creagh were sent to the sin bin.
6. Tony Hearn/Mark Carroll, Game 3, 1995. Suncorp Stadium
One that almost escaped the judiciary system. Hearn was lucky not to be sent off after he clearly butted Carroll in the first half, sparking a brawl.
Video replays showed Hearn collecting Carroll with a classic “Liverpool Kiss” and he was cited and suspended for eight weeks.
The suspension cost Hearn a Test call-up and he never got to wear the green and gold.
7. Craig Greenhill/Paul Harragon, Game 2, 1996. Sydney Football Stadium
Queensland’s Greenhill became the first player sent off in an Origin match when he took out Harragon with a high tackle in the 62nd minute.
Queensland referee David Manson quite rightly had no hesitation in sending Greenhill off.
The rugged prop was suspended for four weeks and might have been lucky it wasn’t longer. In today’s game he would have been looking at 12 weeks.
The NSW players gathered around the felled Harragon and hurled abuse at Greenhill with current Blues coach Laurie Daley the most vocal.
Greenhill didn’t play Origin again until 1999 and finished his career with six matches to his credit.
8. Steve Roach/Bob Lindner, Game 1, 1986. Lang Park
Hardly anyone saw Roach’s blatant king-hit but the talented Lindner certainly felt it.
Roach was not penalised, cited or suspended, leaving many to wonder whether one set of rules applied to Origin football and one to club football.
The hit is rarely mentioned in Origin retrospectives but Wayne Bennett, who took over as Queensland coach in 1986, was furious.
9. Adam MacDougall/Petero Civoniceva, Game 2, 2001. Stadium Australia
MacDougall had developed a habit of lifting his knee into defending players when he was running with the ball and got Civoniceva, who was playing only his second Origin match, with a beauty.
MacDougall was cited and this time the judiciary caught up with the Newcastle winger and he was suspended for one match.
Tough-as-teak Civoniceva bounced back and went on to play 33 Origin matches.
10. Mark Geyer/Wally Lewis, Game 2, 1991. Sydney Football Stadium
An enduring image of Origin football is the picture of Geyer and Queensland captain Lewis straining to get at one another as the teams leave the field at halftime with NSW hooker Ben Elias and referee David Manson trying to keep them apart.
Geyer, who later revealed he had been told by a NSW selector to get stuck into the Maroons, ran riot in the first half and Lewis, with 10 years of Origin football under his belt, decided enough was enough and confronted Geyer.
Geyer was later cited and suspended for five weeks for an elbow to Maroons fullback Paul Hauff’s head.
The Panthers firebrand eventually played only three Origin matches and later joked that when Lewis ran towards him he “didn’t know whether to belt him or ask for his autograph”.
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Originally published as State of Origin 2015: 10 grubbiest acts in Origin history
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