Glenn’s 10: Glenn McFarlane names the top 10 moments in State-of-Origin footy
STATE-of-Origin wasn’t only a rugby league thing once. From Plugger, Dunstall and Ablett in the same forward line to Ted Whitten’s emotional lap of honour and the Big V’s embarrassment against NSW, take a trip down memory lane. GLENN’S 10
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DESPITE another huge rugby league State-of-Origin match this week, it isn’t likely we’ll see a return of the concept in the AFL any time soon.
That’s a shame because State-of-Origin has produced some of the most memorable moments in our game. Here’s our top 10.
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1. EJ’S FAREWELL, 1995
Ted Whitten’s final emotional lap around the MCG was one of the biggest moments in more than 150 years of football, not just State-of-Origin football. Whitten was dying from prostate cancer and almost blind as he and his son, Ted Jr, and his grandchildren went around the ground before the game. He met the Victoria team before the match against South Australia and there was barely a dry eye in the rooms. The Vics were never going to lose that afternoon, scoring a 63-point win over the Croweaters, with Tony Lockett kicking seven goals.
2. LOCKETT, DUNSTALL, BRERETON AND CO, 1989
How can you fit so many champion forwards into the one side? Easy, as it turned out. South Australia had won the three previous State-of-Origin encounters. Incredibly, 91,960 fans responded to Ted Whitten’s call to support the concept’s return to the MCG, and the Victorian forwards did the rest.
Lockett kicked five, Dunstall (a Queenslander, we might add) kicked four and Brereton finished with three of Victoria’s 22 goals. South Australia must have been thankful Gary Ablett was injured. Whitten said after the game: “The state title means a hell of a lot to me and to win the title back here is big, and I mean big — bigger than Lockett.” The only downside was that Andy Collins tackled his Hawthorn teammate Tony Hall, who ended up doing his knee, costing him a flag.
3. THE COMING OF ABLETT, 1984
Gary Ablett Sr had only played nine games for Geelong — after an earlier, aborted stint at Hawthorn — when he was a shock selection for the Big V.
Chairman of selectors Ted Whitten named him on the half-forward line for the clash against Western Australia in Perth. He didn’t let Whitten down, kicking eight goals in a superb performance — a portent for the career that would come.
Fittingly, he won the E.J. Whitten Medal as Victoria’s best player. Ablett would later say: “I went from an unknown ‘Who is this bloke?’ to all of a sudden people knew my name. It was a transforming moment that changed my life — coming from the bush to the big V.”
4. STICKS’ BIG 10, 1984
South Australian Stephen Kernahan was a skinny 20-year-old from Glenelg with potential when he lined up on Carlton champion Bruce Doull in a 1984 state game against Victoria.
He finished the match with 10 goals as the hottest property in the football land. Kernahan’s effort is even more meritorious when you consider it came in a losing side, with the Croweaters going down by four points.
Two years later he would join the Blues and three years later would be a Carlton premiership skipper. It was the first state clash under lights at Football Park, and Kernahan lit up the match with a remarkable performance.
5. FOUR BROTHERS AND AN UPSET, 1990
As far as upsets go, they don’t come much bigger than the night New South Wales upstaged Victoria at a waterlogged SCG in 1990.
It was also the night that the four Daniher brothers — Terry, Neale, Tony and Chris — played in the same NSW team, a precursor to their appearance in Essendon colours later in the year.
A Victorian team that included Dermott Brereton, Dale Weightman, Paul Salmon, Stephen Silvagni and Barry Stoneham couldn’t stop the NSW Blues from saluting by 10 points. John Longmire kicked eight goals for the winners.
After the game Tony Daniher said: “It is a dream come true. The win was fantastic, it was history in the making, and we were all just thrilled to be a part of it.”
The Vics were less than impressed, with Whitten left fuming at the upset.
6. “WE STUCK IT UP ’EM”, 1990
The Vics were under pressure in 1990 when they ventured across to Western Australia to take on the Sandgropers. Ted Whitten was tense. He knew anything less than a win would be disastrous.
So when the Vics scored a 37-point victory, courtesy of six goals from Gary Ablett, emotion got the better of the theatrical Whitten. As he came off the ground, and in deliberate full view of the live TV cameras, he screamed: “We stuck it right up ’em. That’s what you did. We stuck it right up ’em. “ It would become an EJ catchcry.
7. THE BIRTH OF STATE-OF-ORIGIN, 1977
In 1977, three years before rugby league opted to bring in a State-of-Origin series, Subiaco’s marketing manager Leon Larkin had his concept agreed to by the various football bodies. And Western Australia met Victoria at Subiaco in October. Prior to that, the Vics had long dominated. But under the new rules, the Sandgropers produced a stunning 94-point win in what is classified as the first State-of-Origin match. Victoria got its revenge a year later with a 100-point belting at Waverley Park.
8. THE BICENTENNIAL FLOP, 1988
Ten sides from around Australia — Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Amateurs and the Victoria Football Association — played in a two-tiered competition before the start of the 1988 season.
It would prove to be a flop in terms of its attention, but not for the Croweaters who blitzed the final of the main section against Victoria. A shattered Ted Whitten could only say: “It just wasn’t one or two who let us down. It was the star players who didn’t perform.”
Kernahan kicked six for South Australia. And Garry McIntosh was best afield after a fiery clash with Greg Williams.
9. HEARD AND SEEN, 1985
New Hall of Fame legend Kevin Sheedy saved one of his sneakiest moves for State-of-Origin subterfuge when he tried to sneak tagger Shane Heard into South Australia for a game in 1985. Not even the Vics players knew he was headed there, and didn’t realise he was playing until the late inclusion jumped on the Football Park-bound team bus with his gear.
Dale Weightman recalled: “No one knew he was playing. Sheeds had smuggled Heardy over. He used him to tag (Craig) Bradley and (John) Platten. We beat them by 10 goals, but because Sheeds played an extra bloke on the bench, SA complained and they took the game off us. But it was a moral victory even though we didn’t get the shield.”
10. THE 2008 ALL-STAR GAME
After an absence of 3269 days, and for the first and only time this century, the Big V was back on the big stage for the Victoria v the All-Stars game at the MCG in 2008. The concept was revived to promote the 150th birthday of Australian Football and almost 70,000 turned up.
It was a free-flowing contest involving the best available 50 players in the competition, a total of 39 goals for the night and a tight, even contest. Brendan Fevola was best afield, winning what is likely to be the one and only Allen Aylett Medal. The Vics, with Jonathan Brown as skipper, beat the All-Stars by 17 points.
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Originally published as Glenn’s 10: Glenn McFarlane names the top 10 moments in State-of-Origin footy