The thing is, this idea that there was ever a golden era when Origin was a gentleman's contest is a load of rose-tinted glasses nonsense. From "the backhander" dished out upon Mick Cronin in the very first game back in 1980, to MG's kamikaze mission in '91 that brought on the famous stoush between himself and Wally, through to Tallis giving Adam Macdougall a backhander after scoring a try in 2000 and getting marched for calling Harrigan "a f**king cheat" in that same series, Origin has always manifested in players adopting a win-at-all-costs attitude and doing whatever it takes (within the rules or not) to gain an advantage.
The most ridiculous thing is anybody, regardless of what side they follow, thinking the State they follow has some kind of moral high-ground over the other one when it comes to sportsmanship and fair play...