‘You’ll respect this state’: Fittler finally abandons ‘disgraced’ team culture

All of NSW’s crushing State of Origin failures can be blamed on one factor and Jarome Luai’s axing has brutally exposed it.

Jarome Luai is gone. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

COMMENT

Brad Fittler’s final squad may be another lesson in the dangers of disinfecting your bathroom with the windows closed, but at least it sends a clear message.

The Blues awful fifth tackle options can be safely blamed on one factor: the unbearable rapper music the kids are playing these days.

Jarome Luai’s curious axing for game three - despite being one of the Blues better performers throughout - confirms the rumours that Boom Box Culture is the chief destroyer of NSW’s Origin campaign.

But what exactly is Boom Box Culture?

Depending on your preferred dictionary and how many franking credits you hold, it can take on many varying definitions.

Talkback radio defines Boom Box Culture as lairing-up, winning without grace, brandishing your transistor radio in public, and anything else the Panthers do.

On the other hand, under 30’s define it as something “you old gronks” would “never get brah”, except that it riles up the NRL360 panel after a loss yet goes unmentioned after a win.

Boom Box Culture has been a hot topic in recent weeks as the NSW fan base gingerly shifted through the seven stages of grief to reach its final stage: blame.

Jarome Luai even lost the scuffle with Reece Walsh. Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

With Origin failures surging in line with appalling haircuts, the state’s diehard supporters - namely Facebook users aged 50-65 - decided every head-scratching selection and grand-scale choke could be traced back to Luai’s portable stereo and players jumping on each other in celebration.

Fellow offenderati Braith Anasta best summed up the angst towards Boom
Box Culture on NRL360 when he plead whether this NSW team “gets” that they’re “playing for the people”- and he raises a salient point.

From the early days of Robbie Kearns right up to Anthony Minichiello and Mark Gasnier, this great state may have habitually disgraced itself on bonding sessions- but NEVER did we play loud doof in the sheds.

It’s a clear message: you can make a lewd phone call or jump on horseback after 25 schooners- but you’ll respect this state, goddammit.

Jarome Luai was firing blanks. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

Many will defend Boom Box Culture as nothing more than the confidence of youth and the latest figment of the boomer’s imagination, while some will just view it as a couple of scufflers with a Spotify subscription- but these people are wrong.

Put simply, whether or not Luai’s omission is the first cornerstone dislodged in this trend, the Blues will never cross the tryline again if we remain enamoured with all this rock’n’roll and dabbing and such.

If you don’t believe me, just remember that back in our day, the rest of us didn’t have boom boxes. Heck, we didn’t even have music.

We made sound with a soap tin and a ham bone and got our kicks the respectful way- by spending time together, usually chasing undomesticated cats with an air rifle.

Maybe it’s time the current NSW squad did something similarly modest. Maybe try spending some time together, maybe discharge a firearm, maybe be humble.

And before you TikTokkers jump to the Blues defence- yes, Queensland are just as uncouth.

But at least they complement their elaborate handshakes and Reece Walsh with wins and tries.

Dane Eldridge is a warped cynic yearning for the glory days of rugby league, a time when the sponges were magic and the Mondays were mad. He’s never strapped on a boot in his life, and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Originally published as ‘You’ll respect this state’: Fittler finally abandons ‘disgraced’ team culture