BTW in NRL 360 the night before i heard the reporter dude, name escapes me atm, say that he thinks its time they started to reign back in the hype surrounding Origin. He correctly identified players from other countries and states were starting to have a much bigger impact on the game and that as they had more involvement that the reality of a game between only 2 of the 5 states had less relevance. He did state that what made origin better than the average game was the players took it personally, but that it was overdoing it with specialist coaches and 10 days lead up where 3 of those days was just players sitting round resting etc...
Speaking of that show, having Walters and Daley as regular guests, they are hardly likely to rip into each other in the media to gin up some interest, preferring soft targets like the refs.
The first 10 minutes are always tough, but the hate has gone out of it.
No one was interested when Thaiday dropped Gallen on his head, pretty terrible tackle, years gone by someone would’ve cleaned thaiday up in response.
Has the sense of everyone happy to collect their generous paychecks for the series, some of the newer players like Frizzel rip in, Tamou and the like are just showing up for the cash.
Even QLD only burst into life when they feel NSW is coming to get them, mostly just cruising along.
All contributes to an exhibition feel, has more in common with an All Stars game than the pinnacle of the sport. The NRL playoffs are at higher level than this, let alone full strength test matches.
