14 May, 2015. 11:55
IMRAN GASHKORI | Sports | [email protected]
The biggest rivalry in Rugby League is set for 2015, with the Holden State of Origin ready for it’s biggest series ever!
The VB Blues will take on the XXXX Maroons at ANZ Stadium on May 27 in Game 1 of this years series.
The men wearing blue will represent New South Wales as well as the age bracket between 16-27, while the men in Maroon will represent both Queenslanders and Baby Boomers.
Rugby League icon, Tonie Carroll spoke to the Betoota Advocate today.
“Origin really is a great exhibition of North vs South, Old vs Young”
“Queensland has always opted for older players and for the last nine years the Blues have been throwing every combination possible at them – most of them being young blokes”
Such is the domination of the leathery old players in Maroon, that their first series loss in the nine years was against an entire team of Generation-Y players, none of which had experienced a winning series before.
Facebook had not been invented the last time NSW won a series.
Maroons captain, Cameron Smith (47), says that while he and his star team mates are all ageing rapidly – he feels as though he has at least “six more origins” left in him.
“Age isn’t really something we take into account, I mean Hodge-daddy (Justin Hodges) is nearly 50… Grego (Greg Inglis) just turned 40 and both Slater and Thaiday are about to celebrate their combined 45th”
“Big Mal (Coach, Mal Meninga) actually played with most of these boys. It’s really bizarre having a coach that is only a couple years older than you”
Cameron Smith is heading towards an epic showdown against the Blues, with the opposition number 9, Josh Dugan celebrating his 19th birthday earlier this month.
“Doogs reckons he’s got what it takes. He’s only a young pup. We’ve been doing this shit for the best part of two decades. Not a concern at all,”
“Last year was a fluke. We are always going to be heading into a series with more experience, and a lot more to play for. Some of us have grandkids.”
