Phil Lutton speaks with Queensland's players about the 75 seconds of madness that turned Origin III into a riot.
Ten months have passed since the fist of Brett White struck the jaw of Steve Price - thus sparking one of the more hostile sequences in modern Australian sporting history - and Cameron Smith can still scarcely believe what transpired. ''It looked like it was going to get out of hand and the police were going to have to get involved,'' Smith recalled of the violent finale to last year's State of Origin series. ''It was that sort of thing.''
The image of an unconscious Steve Price sprawled on the Suncorp Stadium turf has remained in the minds of the Queenslanders, just as the memory of Smith's steepling bomb which led to the four-man mauling of Kurt Gidley has stuck with the Blues. Both events - and the all-in confrontations they triggered - have formed the backdrop to this year's series, with promises of retribution thick in the air.
Had the rioting occurred earlier in the match, the body count might well have been off the charts. That it occurred with just 75 seconds remaining on the clock ensured the final whistle tempered the bad blood - until now.
Perhaps that's why the fight has taken on such epic proportions in the build-up to tomorrow night's game at ANZ Stadium. Threats remain unfulfilled, the pulsating ball of kinetic emotion rudely truncated by the final whistle. NSW are convinced Justin Hodges's throat-slitting gestures and Smith's up-and-under were low acts. For Queensland, the sight of White satisfyingly licking blood from his lips and Justin Poore's manhandling of Price is a red rag to a herd of rogue bulls. If ever a game was balanced on a knife-edge, this is it.
''It was very, very crazy out there. You didn't know what to do. It was like being in a snow globe then having it all shaken up,'' said Sam Thaiday, who was given a bigger cheer from the Queensland crowd when he was sin-binned than when he took the field.
''They showed 1000 replays [of White punching Price] on the screen. I think that makes you a bit more emotional and fired up. Standing there watching it, you could see what really happened. It was a shock seeing Pricey - one of the old heads and very well respected - hurt like that.''
Smith recalls that by the time of his infamous bomb, the match had taken on a life of its own. It wasn't Darren Lockyer's call to go the aerial route, or that of any one player, but a group decision that has infuriated the Blues and left a holding pattern of simmering indignation between states. ''I'm not sure why we did it but we just did it,'' Smith said. ''A couple of our boys copped a bit of stick from their players, so we thought we'd do it back.
''It was mayhem. It's hard to describe what was going on. There was push and shove over here, brawls over there, the crowd was going mental, the refs were blowing their whistles … There was a feeling that we didn't know what was going to happen, really. It was a feeling like the crowd was going to get on the field and be part of the game. I thought the whole stadium was going to erupt into something.''
Greg Inglis added: ''I've never been in a game like that. Boys were getting bashed, boys were getting injured, there were fights. It's a blur but it still replays in my head. I still don't quite know what happened. It was mayhem. The last 10 minutes was hectic. We didn't know who was on, who was off. The fight broke out and we got thrown off our guards a bit. Knowing Bellyache [NSW coach Craig Bellamy], that's what he'll be going for this time.''
A man who has never thrown a fist in anger throughout his 12-year career, Lockyer has become the pantomime villain for many New South Welshmen. The Queensland captain has been widely painted as the architect of the bombing raid on Gidley, despite Smith's assertion it was a team call.
Lockyer speaks of the final chapter of 2009 with sheepish reticence. Brawling has never been his style. But every footballer, no matter his degree of pacifism, has an inbuilt urge to stand by his comrades if they are victims of a perceived wrong.
''It's an aggressive game, Origin. It gets the blood flowing. Sometimes there might be an incident that triggers things,'' Lockyer said. ''It sort of lost control a bit. Pricey got knocked out [and] his teammates were standing up for him. We lost the game and basically wanted to finish the game tackling. It was just teammates sticking up for one another.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...stadium-was-going-to-erupt-20100524-w84v.html
:lol: nice diversion from the fact you lost the game
