Origin better than sex. Except for NSW

STATE of Origin is like sex. Even when it's bad it's still pretty darn good.

Laurie Daley

STATE of Origin is like sex. Even when it's bad it's still pretty darn good.

Not that it's bad often. Unless you are from New South Wales of course, in which case you're suffering the mother of all dry spells.

It was former Origin coach and well known bon vivant Wayne Bennett who noted that the morning after the Maroons win a series all Queenslanders walk a little taller with a spring in their step.

No wonder the good people of New South Wales have spent the past seven years bent over in frustration and  wearing a permanent scowl.

It's like every June they splash on their Blue Stratos and crank up their Best of Barry White CD with the highest of hopes, only to have Paul Gallen roll over at half-time in Game II and say, "Not tonight, I've got a headache".

You almost feel sorry for them. I mean it's not as if they're not trying to get over the line. Other than taking Mal Meninga out for dinner and a show they've had a shot at just about every trick known to man.

They tried the Mr Nice Guy approach with Graham Murray, but who wants an Origin coach who opens your bus door and stands up whenever a NSW winger walks into the room? They went with Mr Intense Craig Bellamy, but the players got sick of the nightly phone calls and all that talk about commitment.

Finally they got desperate and went with Ricky Stuart, Mr Viagra himself. If he couldn't get them up for it, no-one could.

So where does that leave them now? With Laurie Daley, Mr Smooth.

If Lozza puts as much time into his game plan as he does into dying his hair, they might be a chance.

They certainly seem to think so. The way they are talking in Sydney right now you'd think they had Casanova at fullback, Errol Flynn and Don Juan in the halves, Heidi Klum at hooker and Madame Lash on the bench.

Of course Queenslanders know better. They've heard all the lines before. How the Maroons are past it; how they are lacking desire and passion. How they have become predictable in certain positions.

And year after year it's the Maroons who score while the Blues are duds.

In 2006 it was Big Willie Mason who made a lot of noise early but couldn't go the distance. In 2007 Brett White reckoned Petero Civoniceva was playing like an old woman. Toni Carroll said, "Take this girlfriend" and knocked him into the third row of the grandstand.

Last year it was the Blues' Tim Grant who sat Petero on the seat of his pants, only to be dumped for this year's series while the love affair between Mitchell "2-from-9" Pearce and the NSW selectors remains as strong, and as puzzling, as Geoffrey Edelsten's marriage.

Will it be the same old story this year? NSW writing Queensland off but not having any lead in their pencil? Will they once again suffer from premature expectation or will they finally break their drought with a roar heard all the way to the Playboy Mansion?

That's the beauty of Origin. Waiting for the kick-off to a new series everyone is a 21 year-old getting ready for a party. The air is filled with the sweet smell of possibility. Everyone goes in thinking they're a chance.

And win, lose or draw, everyone ends up getting lucky.