Queenslander!

OK. I admit it. I am a traitor to my state. Don’t get me wrong - I love New South Wales. I was born in Parramatta and spent most of my life there before moving to Crookwell. I have worked in Goulburn, Nowra, Wollongong, Newcastle, Mudgee and Lithgow; and loved almost every minute of it.

But, when it comes to State of Origin, I cheer for Queensland. I always have.

Why?

Well, first of all, the concept originated when I was a kid, and I loved an underdog story. Queensland get to pick Sydney based players? I didn’t even know there was a difference outside of reading the Brisbane report at the back of Big League each week. The 1980 game was a bit of a novelty, and had NSW won, it might have ended there and then.

But surely there’s another reason? You damn right there is!

As a kid growing up as a Manly fan in Parramatta, the rivalry was strong enough to have not one but TWO Tooheys ads based upon it. Then, as I entered high school, the teams would come out. NSW would have Cronin and Price, Kenny and Sterling, Muggleton, Hunt, Jurd, Ella, Wynn. Queensland had Close and Boustead, Vautin, Dave Brown and Paul McCabe, Bruce Walker and John Ribot. The choice was clear. How could I possibly cheer on a team dominated by the Eels players that had broken my heart in the 1982 Grand Final? Especially when so many of my heroes were in just another maroon jumper?

And so it goes. Yes, I was pilloried by friends, colleagues, girlfriends; even my parents. But my loyalty to Manly runs very very deep.

I will cheer tonight for Jake Trbojevic. I think he is the Terry Randall of his generation - under rated by all except those that play alongside him. But I will also cheer for Daly Cherry-Evans. The much maligned captain of a Queensland team that is reinventing itself, and is somehow still in this fight.

I love the underdog. Think Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30. The Giants against the Patriots in Superbowl XLII. Leicester City in the Premier League in 2015-16. Queensland so so many times.

And maybe once more tonight. In a series where Queensland have unveiled a record fourteen debutants, this may be the ultimate victory for the underdog.