State Of Origin: When Teammates Collide

State Of Origin: When Teammates Collide

Liam Fogarty

“What if they play for the same club?” is a question you’ll often hear new rugby league fans ask when first learning about State of Origin.

I can only speak for myself but I get a bit of a weird satisfaction about replying with “doesn’t matter, he’s not your teammate in Origin” and watching the other person wrestle with that concept in their mind.

How do two football players who endure countless hours of preseason, training and regular season games suddenly throw on a different jersey and instantly despise each other for 80 minutes, three times a year?

That is simply the power of State of Origin, arguably the pinnacle of world sport.

Mate against mate is used so much during the Origin period and what better way to get fired up for this years series than by reminisicing about some of the most iconic coming togethers of clubland teammates in the Origin arena.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mate against mate, have a read over of all of them on a dedicated page that RL Project has put together.

The guy that runs the page sledged me on Twitter (X?) one time but his site is too good not to shout out.

Here are some of my favourite mate against mate moments from State of Origin.

 

 

Arthur Beetson vs Mick Cronin

Decided to talk about it early because we have a lot of angry boomers on our Facebook page that would simply just blow up that I didn’t mention this iconic moment at all or if I left it any later in this article.

Artie paved the way for the spectacle that is State of Origin today, if this is the first time you’ve ever heard about this I implore you to go and read literally any other article about it written by anyone more credible than me.

Game 1 of the first ever series in 1980, Queensland Captain Arthur Beetson, in his only ever State of Origin game decided he’d set the tone early and go after his Parramatta teammate Mick Cronin.

In doing so, Artie showed the world that this wasn’t just some soft little exhibition show like the All Star Games are in seemingly every other code of sport.

Origin (at least to Queenslanders) is war.

Without Artie, we might not have Origin today and it’s our job to make sure his legend never dies.

Lindsay Collins vs James Tedesco

One of the greatest catches you’ve ever seen at Adelaide Oval.

Big prop forward Lindsay Collins found himself in a strange spot, contesting a high ball with Blues fullback and Roosters teammate James Tedesco in the dying moments of Game 1 2023.

Teddy who a lot of people said (at the time) was the best fullback in the world and should’ve come down with the ball comfortably.

It was not to be though, Big Lindsay summoned that Queensland spirit and flew highest, snatching the ball from Teddy and then setting up the match winning try for Cameron Munster.

Collins went on to win Man of the Match in Game 2 that year and Tedesco was axed as fullback for the 2024 series.

I’m not fully blaming Lindsay buuuuuuut…

Dane Gagai vs Latrell Mitchell

If there’s one pest that’s made for the Origin arena, it’s definetly Latrell Mitchell.

The Souths fullback played centre for the Blues for years and could effortlessly get under his opposite numbers skin.

For years Latrell and Will Chambers would go at it but in 2021 it was TrellMit’s Souths teammate Dane Gagai who was lined up infront of him and did they put club loyalties aside!

It was not a good series for the Maroons, after a heroic campaign in 2020, QLD in a bizarre Covid impacted year let NSW run wild, losing the first two games.

Latrell and Gags truely kicked off in Game 3 of this series on the Gold Coast after a try to Api Koroisau, Gagai was lying on Api after grounding the ball and Latrell did not take that too kindly.

The Blues centre proceeded to rip his club teammate off the debutant and a scuffle then began.

Darren Lockyer vs Michael De Vere

I could write a thesis on just how good Darren Lockyer was but this play from the 2003 series embodies all of it.

Locky will be an immortal mark my words, he was a gun at fullback and the greatest five eighth to ever do it and he showcased just how much it meant to him by chasing down Broncos teammate Michael De Vere and not only tackling him but forcing a turnover.

De Vere didn’t play many more NRL games after this tackle, moving over to Super League in 2004.

Did his Broncos teammate Darren Lockyer embarrass him so much that he had to leave the country? You be the judge.

Who Have I Missed?

As I said earlier, I’ve missed way more Mate v Mate moments than I’ve written about but these are just some of the ones that stand out to me.

I want to hear from you Punters, when you here “Mate vs Mate” who do you think of? Let me know in the Facebook comments let’s get a big ole nostalgia thread going.