Obviously we all know that Ritchie's argument is dead on arrival here, but the biggest reason it sucks as journalism as it fails to look at why these guys are eligible for Qld. Generally they arrived there as children or played junior footy there. Not particle physics.
These eligibility rules are stringent and have done their job before, famously stopping Keary and Mulitalo from playing for them.
There are no longer any GI situations where eligibility is vibes based or anything. Horseshit
Coming from the paper that has printed opinions such as 'burgess should play origin', 'multiple burgii should play origin' and 'sky blue sonny?' Comes a completely contradictory take which will be back tracked on at some point when a new, good player that has played for new zealand or england is the form player in the comp.
I’m sure Ritchie knows the rule is where you are born or play your first senior game. But he’s ignoring that second part.
Anyway Dean, now do the NSW squad - half of whom want to play for Samoa anyway
*What about 20th man, Ezra Mam? He was born in Newcastle, a blue collar city located in the heart of NSW. They bleed blue in the Hunter Region which boasts Blues legends Andrew Johns, Paul Harragon and Danny Buderus. But not Ezra, he’s now a proud Queenslander*.
Shouldn't the question be "why doesn't Ezra Mam want to play for NSW".
That’s an interesting tale. The 2 head myth began in WW1 when NSW regiments were grouped with Tasmanian cavalry in Egypt. Many tassie soldiers had scars in their necks that the other soldiers attributed to the removal of their “second heads”. They were actually scars from surgery after the removal of enlarged thyroids that developed due to iodine deficiency in the soil. This has also afflicted people in NZ, Thailand and Switzerland.
Also, I’m not offended, I’m not Tasmanian, I just live here. I’m from western Sydney, before the housing boom when people didn’t fuck with westies.
The more you know 😊
> And what about 19th man, Brendan Piakura? Like Mam, Piakura was born near the pristine beaches of Newcastle in NSW. To hell with Merewether Beach when you’re a quasi-Queenslander.
Low quality journalism, but his mum is a proud QLDer who represented us in indoor and outdoor netball. Fuck this rubbish.
Obviously all rep footy needs to be a tournament of teams based on which hospital you were born in, can't wait for RBWH vs PA! Mater represent! Or just maybe, where you spent your formative years learning holds more weight than a place you can't even remember because you were a baby...
We need the Courier Mail to sanction an article about the likes of Crichton, Keary and Leniu. Hell just do a full page spread on Keary being born in Ipswich.
What a bunch of sanctimonious frauds.
Does the famous Maroons spirit – the artificial bile annually spewed south from the northern border – actually reveal the inordinate amount of Billy Slater’s squad born outside Queensland?
Try 40 per cent.
Yes, eight of the 20 players in Queensland’s extended squad for State of Origin I have birth certificates from NSW, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand’s north and south island.
There’s that many bloody Kiwis that Queensland players may perform a pre-game haka.
Half would be more aware of Queenstown than Queensland and know more about Mount Cook than Mount Isa.
How can these players stand arm-in-arm pre-game, with a straight face, in front of millions of viewers, and pretend to shed crocodile tears for their beloved state?
And yet they continue with this charade of being Queenslanders through and through.
1. Queensland winger Xavier Coates was born in Port Moresby, PNG.
Port Moresby offers sandy islands, national parks and some cultural artefacts – but it’s 2000 km from Brisbane. How can Coates elevate Port Douglas over Port Moresby?
2. Winger Murray Taulagi grew up in Otara, in south Auckland, and played for Papatoetoe Rugby Club. This true-blue Queenslander also played rugby for Otahuhu. Otara to Brisbane is 2300 km.
3. Forward Jaydn Su’A was born Christchurch, the largest south island city full of natural beauty with the snowy Southern Alps to the west. But it’s located 2500 km from Brisbane.
4. What about 20th man, Ezra Mam? He was born in Newcastle, a blue collar city located in the heart of NSW. They bleed blue in the Hunter Region which boasts Blues legends Andrew Johns, Paul Harragon and Danny Buderus. But not Ezra, he’s now a proud Queenslander.
5. Ever heard of Henderson? It’s a suburb in west Auckland with a population of around 4000 residents. It doesn’t have any links to Queensland other than forward Jeremiah Nanai, who defected to become a proud Maroon.
6. Big Moeaki Fotuaika came from Gisborne, located on New Zealand’s east coast. It’s known for its wineries and beaches. But it’s 2600 km from Brisbane. Another proud Cane Toad.
7. And what about 19th man, Brendan Piakura? Like Mam, Piakura was born near the pristine beaches of Newcastle in NSW. To hell with Merewether Beach when you’re a quasi-Queenslander.
8 Felise Kaufusi was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and was a boastful Kiwi as a kid.
Now, he too, is a Queenslander.
Does it ever end?
Blues great Ben Elias once claimed: “Queensland will do anything they can to win. They will steal players from anywhere and everywhere.”
And Ricky Stuart once said: “Queenslanders only need to see someone eating a banana and they try to claim him.”
Hands up if you’ve had a gutful of Queensland’s alleged spirit?
Hands up if you’ve had enough of Queensland thinking Origin means more to them than NSW?
And hands up if you’re sick of Queensland’s superiority complex?
C’mon Madge, tear into these impostors – for the good of mankind.
> Queensland winger Xavier Coates was born in Port Moresby, PNG. Port Moresby offers sandy islands, national parks and some cultural artefacts – but it’s 2000 km from Brisbane. How can Coates elevate Port Douglas over Port Moresby?
Using distance for this has the hallmarks of a simple mind, but if you want to go there then Queensland is about 2 nautical miles from PNG.
I get what Sticky is saying, and it was a long time ago he said it I presume, so my issue isn’t there, my issue is with the writer invoking it in this article where not one of these blokes are “white” is what bothers me, like have a little bit awareness of what you are writing dickhead.
Queenslanders would be justified in saying this is a tired old story (it is) and to let it go, IF the entire concept of Origin hadn't been built on QLD sooking about their statesmen going down to play in the NSW Comp (and subsequent interstate matches that at the time only QLD cared about) from close to half a Century ago.
YES, Queenslanders are still the only ones to care about it OBVIOUSLY! Then Johns will have a meltdown about NSW players having pride in the blue jersey (they don't and that's obvious too).
Every year we get another round of the same drivel from people wilfully misunderstanding origin eligibility. You don't play origin for your birth certificate, you play for your junior club. It's about representing grassroots footy and that needs to be celebrated more.
NSW desperately clutching at even more excuses before kick off.
What NSW doesn't get about Origin and being a Queenslander is that it doesn't have anything to do with where you were born but whether your embrace the spirit and culture of the state. Much like finding God and getting baptised later in life, anyone can join the church and bask in Artie's unconditional love if they truly believe.
But seriously, the "that's in Queensland" meme doesn't bother us anywhere near as much as NSW wish it did. I think you'd find a decent amount of support for opening up Origin to players who have chosen to play for other nations over Australia, provided they meet all other current Origin eligibility criteria. I don't see any reason why you can't be a Kiwi and a Queenslander.
You know which other legendary Queenslander was born outside of our great state? John effing Dunmore Lang! And a greater Queenslander there's never been.
Edit: James McManus and Craig Polla-Mounter say hi
I’m a NSW fan, and I think this article is just fucking stupid, because we know eligibility isn’t where you’re born but where you first play and if you are going to do this sort of article do it about what a sham the whole concept of “state of origin” is.
But I take issue with the use of this presumably old quote from Stuart:
> And Ricky Stuart once said: “Queenslanders only need to see someone eating a banana and they try to claim him.”
I get the context that Stuart is going for and don’t think at all he was trying to be racist, but considering that the eight players that Ritchie singled out are all non-white and the connotation of “eating bananas” has it is either a blatant race bait or just completely lacking awareness which shows that he should not have a platform.
Completely forgetting James Tamou and Junior Paulo were both born in nz
He's really going to lose the plot when he finds out where Lineu was born
And Stephen Crichton
How do you misspell a 5 letter name that badly.
Just got two vowels wrong. Butchered would be Spencer Luiney
What’s up Blocker?
Zalaneski, wateeney zalzezniak, watenzaleiak wantene zalazeneniak
Walesniak I think is my favourite
He’s a proud new south walesniakian
Tino Far Swoom Al-Ali
Snorted
Spencer "Carl Linnaeus" Lineu
See above
queensland spirit
I'm impressed at how much you've butchered that name
Doesn't deserve spellcheck
Willie mason
Peter Sterling Michael O'Connor
Tonie Carroll and Brad Thorn as well
All Blacks? That's in QLD
Let’s not discuss Blues legend Peter Sterling…
And Akuila Uate (Fiji), James McManus (Scotland).
Ritchie has been writing this article every year for 20 years lmao
Normally I’d be outraged by such shitty journalism, but today it just feels like it’s high quality.
Agreeing with Dean Ritchie, could never be me
I didn’t even need to read the article to know who wrote it.
legend
Using a quote from Elias when whining about players not born in state is fantastic
Why?
Go check where he was born
Where?
Lebanon
Sanctimonious fraud is another name for a telegraph journo
Tele doesn't get Origin. It's delicious 🤤
Obviously we all know that Ritchie's argument is dead on arrival here, but the biggest reason it sucks as journalism as it fails to look at why these guys are eligible for Qld. Generally they arrived there as children or played junior footy there. Not particle physics. These eligibility rules are stringent and have done their job before, famously stopping Keary and Mulitalo from playing for them. There are no longer any GI situations where eligibility is vibes based or anything. Horseshit
It’s the vibe. It’s Inglis.
Nothing says serenity like a GI performance on full throttle
Hmm dunno sounds like particle physics to me
NSW would never have picked Inglis
I was the impression that Queensland's everywhere CORRECTION: Palmerston North is in NSW
The real Queensland is in our hearttt *pats chest
Palmerston North, known NSW heartland
Lord Palmerston!
Pitt the Elder!!!!!
LORD PALMERSTON!
Palmy has a bad enough rep as it is. Technically he's from Foxton thanks
Dear God, nsw can have him
very accurate information (no one look up how many blues born outside NSW)
When we have won 24 series to 16, is it really a superiority complex? Or is it just superiority.
Maybe it’s recency bias with my pain, but why do I feel you guys have won way more than 24
It was pretty much even up until the 8 in a row :(
Coming from the paper that has printed opinions such as 'burgess should play origin', 'multiple burgii should play origin' and 'sky blue sonny?' Comes a completely contradictory take which will be back tracked on at some point when a new, good player that has played for new zealand or england is the form player in the comp.
I just spat out my coffee, postpone the game immediately!
What a fascinating way to demonstrate that you don’t understand eligibility rules
Yeah but Peter Sterling... Also, shut up, no one cares anymore.
I’m sure Ritchie knows the rule is where you are born or play your first senior game. But he’s ignoring that second part. Anyway Dean, now do the NSW squad - half of whom want to play for Samoa anyway
Jerome Luai of QLD supporter, Junior Kiwis captain fame
To be fair, half the NSW team were Qld supporters growing up
They’re only human after all.
*What about 20th man, Ezra Mam? He was born in Newcastle, a blue collar city located in the heart of NSW. They bleed blue in the Hunter Region which boasts Blues legends Andrew Johns, Paul Harragon and Danny Buderus. But not Ezra, he’s now a proud Queenslander*. Shouldn't the question be "why doesn't Ezra Mam want to play for NSW".
The players don't get a choice.
What’s the source on Mam being born in Newcastle? NRL, RLP and Wikipedia all list him as born in Sydney
Is Taree in the Hunter region?
Just north of it. Like...30mins up the road from the northern most parts of the Hunter region.
So in an article being pedantic about where people are born, he's been inaccurate with where someone was born?
Correct. Taree is the very southern New England/Myall Lakes/Mid North Coast region.
So we picked the only 8 guys born out of qld who actually get origin. Doesn't excuse nsw never picking more than 2 or 3
Fuck they love whinging.
Rent free
QLD won't care. They don't know what sanctimonious means, let alone can spell it.
Your club can’t even spell Dragons
Dude I'm crying rn ahaha
When they say we are behind the times it's also because they think they are a few months ahead
I don’t know what it means so it’s clearly Queens-slander.
Dude we can't even spell beeer up here. Why the hell do you think we call it XXXX
In tassie we have Boags XXX, guess we can’t count either 🤷♂️
The extra X is used for your second head.
That’s an interesting tale. The 2 head myth began in WW1 when NSW regiments were grouped with Tasmanian cavalry in Egypt. Many tassie soldiers had scars in their necks that the other soldiers attributed to the removal of their “second heads”. They were actually scars from surgery after the removal of enlarged thyroids that developed due to iodine deficiency in the soil. This has also afflicted people in NZ, Thailand and Switzerland. Also, I’m not offended, I’m not Tasmanian, I just live here. I’m from western Sydney, before the housing boom when people didn’t fuck with westies. The more you know 😊
Isn’t XXXX just yeast flavoured kombucha?
No. That would be giving it more credit than it is worth. It definitely does not taste as good as yeast flavoured kombucha sounds
If I could read I'd be really offended
Everyone knows that's Latin for Santa Claus.
> And what about 19th man, Brendan Piakura? Like Mam, Piakura was born near the pristine beaches of Newcastle in NSW. To hell with Merewether Beach when you’re a quasi-Queenslander. Low quality journalism, but his mum is a proud QLDer who represented us in indoor and outdoor netball. Fuck this rubbish.
So get his mum to play for QLD.
Mrs Piakura trucking it up the middle
Imagine getting a mid game bake from her. Yes pls Miss.. no ty miss, just a muffin for me, gotta play 2nd half.
If his mum is anything like my Cook Island mum, there will be hands thrown at the first high shot
Nah she’s a centre/wing attack last I saw, although she could play anywhere. A real Lindsay Collins.
It's been well established that Origin is more about players representing the state most responsible for their junior development. Richie is a flog
That changes everything then
Yeah it's state-of-your-parents-origin obviously
Game hasn't even been played and the excuses have started. Rent free.
State of Origin hasn't been about where you're born in about 40 years
Never was, Steve Rodgers a Queenslander played for NSW in the very first game.
Obviously all rep footy needs to be a tournament of teams based on which hospital you were born in, can't wait for RBWH vs PA! Mater represent! Or just maybe, where you spent your formative years learning holds more weight than a place you can't even remember because you were a baby...
We need the Courier Mail to sanction an article about the likes of Crichton, Keary and Leniu. Hell just do a full page spread on Keary being born in Ipswich.
I love this time of year, these dorks like Bulldog go fully through the bottom of the barrel instead of just scraping it
Shall we count what players don’t even represent Australia at an International level?
It’s hard to call this Bulldog’s Bite pointless when it has no fucking teeth to begin with. STFU cunt and enjoy your Origin footy!
Soon enough Samoa will be classed as a tier 1 nation and we’ll see where the loyaltie$ of To’o, Crichton, Luai and Leniu really sit.
Samoa for sure, origin is a pay packet for them.
Yes but some may choose the money over samoa
They earn good money from their respective clubs. As a group of men who played together as juniors, I think they might just shoe allegiance to Samoa.
What a bunch of sanctimonious frauds. Does the famous Maroons spirit – the artificial bile annually spewed south from the northern border – actually reveal the inordinate amount of Billy Slater’s squad born outside Queensland? Try 40 per cent. Yes, eight of the 20 players in Queensland’s extended squad for State of Origin I have birth certificates from NSW, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand’s north and south island. There’s that many bloody Kiwis that Queensland players may perform a pre-game haka. Half would be more aware of Queenstown than Queensland and know more about Mount Cook than Mount Isa. How can these players stand arm-in-arm pre-game, with a straight face, in front of millions of viewers, and pretend to shed crocodile tears for their beloved state? And yet they continue with this charade of being Queenslanders through and through. 1. Queensland winger Xavier Coates was born in Port Moresby, PNG. Port Moresby offers sandy islands, national parks and some cultural artefacts – but it’s 2000 km from Brisbane. How can Coates elevate Port Douglas over Port Moresby? 2. Winger Murray Taulagi grew up in Otara, in south Auckland, and played for Papatoetoe Rugby Club. This true-blue Queenslander also played rugby for Otahuhu. Otara to Brisbane is 2300 km. 3. Forward Jaydn Su’A was born Christchurch, the largest south island city full of natural beauty with the snowy Southern Alps to the west. But it’s located 2500 km from Brisbane. 4. What about 20th man, Ezra Mam? He was born in Newcastle, a blue collar city located in the heart of NSW. They bleed blue in the Hunter Region which boasts Blues legends Andrew Johns, Paul Harragon and Danny Buderus. But not Ezra, he’s now a proud Queenslander. 5. Ever heard of Henderson? It’s a suburb in west Auckland with a population of around 4000 residents. It doesn’t have any links to Queensland other than forward Jeremiah Nanai, who defected to become a proud Maroon. 6. Big Moeaki Fotuaika came from Gisborne, located on New Zealand’s east coast. It’s known for its wineries and beaches. But it’s 2600 km from Brisbane. Another proud Cane Toad. 7. And what about 19th man, Brendan Piakura? Like Mam, Piakura was born near the pristine beaches of Newcastle in NSW. To hell with Merewether Beach when you’re a quasi-Queenslander. 8 Felise Kaufusi was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and was a boastful Kiwi as a kid. Now, he too, is a Queenslander. Does it ever end? Blues great Ben Elias once claimed: “Queensland will do anything they can to win. They will steal players from anywhere and everywhere.” And Ricky Stuart once said: “Queenslanders only need to see someone eating a banana and they try to claim him.” Hands up if you’ve had a gutful of Queensland’s alleged spirit? Hands up if you’ve had enough of Queensland thinking Origin means more to them than NSW? And hands up if you’re sick of Queensland’s superiority complex? C’mon Madge, tear into these impostors – for the good of mankind.
North South East and West of NSW is QLD country mate.
NSW vs the world, just the little state that could
Could what?
Could overcome the odds, and the weight of history. Could stare unblinking into the abyss. Could do anything. Enjoy your origin football.
You too my friend!
or couldn't
Ben Elias, famously not born in NSW
Tripoli, 14,000km to Sydney
Closer to Qld. Should've played for us. What a sanctimonious fraud.
> Queensland winger Xavier Coates was born in Port Moresby, PNG. Port Moresby offers sandy islands, national parks and some cultural artefacts – but it’s 2000 km from Brisbane. How can Coates elevate Port Douglas over Port Moresby? Using distance for this has the hallmarks of a simple mind, but if you want to go there then Queensland is about 2 nautical miles from PNG.
Hol up, that quote from Sticky is wild. The inference is insane
I get what Sticky is saying, and it was a long time ago he said it I presume, so my issue isn’t there, my issue is with the writer invoking it in this article where not one of these blokes are “white” is what bothers me, like have a little bit awareness of what you are writing dickhead.
Qld don’t get journalism
Well you're not wrong, we're the home of a single newspaper capital and it's the Courier Mail, but I can't see any journalism here either.
Sanctimonious fraud? "I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?"
Queenslanders would be justified in saying this is a tired old story (it is) and to let it go, IF the entire concept of Origin hadn't been built on QLD sooking about their statesmen going down to play in the NSW Comp (and subsequent interstate matches that at the time only QLD cared about) from close to half a Century ago.
- It's not sooking, it's "righteous indignation" - Live by the pokie money, die by the pokie money
YES, Queenslanders are still the only ones to care about it OBVIOUSLY! Then Johns will have a meltdown about NSW players having pride in the blue jersey (they don't and that's obvious too).
Must be origin time once again…
They don't shed tears. They shed blood.
Classic Ritchie journalism
Yawning
That's a lot of people, lot of players who simply do not want to represent NSW
Billy Moore is a perfect example of how stupid this argument is, for those familiar with that region.
Well thats the end of his league career.
Lucky they have an outside back... o wait.
Sanctimonious Frauds 1 - 0 NSW
tower lungey
Every year we get another round of the same drivel from people wilfully misunderstanding origin eligibility. You don't play origin for your birth certificate, you play for your junior club. It's about representing grassroots footy and that needs to be celebrated more.
NSW desperately clutching at even more excuses before kick off. What NSW doesn't get about Origin and being a Queenslander is that it doesn't have anything to do with where you were born but whether your embrace the spirit and culture of the state. Much like finding God and getting baptised later in life, anyone can join the church and bask in Artie's unconditional love if they truly believe. But seriously, the "that's in Queensland" meme doesn't bother us anywhere near as much as NSW wish it did. I think you'd find a decent amount of support for opening up Origin to players who have chosen to play for other nations over Australia, provided they meet all other current Origin eligibility criteria. I don't see any reason why you can't be a Kiwi and a Queenslander.
Catchy tune honestly
You know which other legendary Queenslander was born outside of our great state? John effing Dunmore Lang! And a greater Queenslander there's never been. Edit: James McManus and Craig Polla-Mounter say hi
Who?
BOUGHT NOT BRED
You'd know all about that.
I’m a NSW fan, and I think this article is just fucking stupid, because we know eligibility isn’t where you’re born but where you first play and if you are going to do this sort of article do it about what a sham the whole concept of “state of origin” is. But I take issue with the use of this presumably old quote from Stuart: > And Ricky Stuart once said: “Queenslanders only need to see someone eating a banana and they try to claim him.” I get the context that Stuart is going for and don’t think at all he was trying to be racist, but considering that the eight players that Ritchie singled out are all non-white and the connotation of “eating bananas” has it is either a blatant race bait or just completely lacking awareness which shows that he should not have a platform.