Beers, wine and seafood: How NSW got ambushed in 1980
Greg Brentnall reckons NSW never had an idea of what was going to hit them until captain Tommy Raudonikis returned from a morning walk around Brisbane.
The year was 1980, the Blues were in enemy territory for the inaugural State of Origin at Lang Park, and they had a false sense of security after it had been talked up as an exhibition match.
“The feel of the place around Brisbane (wasn’t great) and he was copping it from all angles and he came back and said, ‘I think we’re walking into an ambush here’,” Brentnall said.
“That was the first indication of what we were getting ourselves into.”
Up until that moment NSW hadn’t given the game much thought. They’d already won the interstate series 2-0 which was played under the existing residential selection rules that saw players represent the state of the clubs they played for. It was decided to tinker with the rules for the third match so players could now represent the state they were born in or started their first grade careers at.
Brentnall said the NSW players who had been selected for the third match had been told to enjoy the occasion because it probably wouldn’t happen again. In those days, the furthest players would travel for a club game was to Penrith so a trip to Brisbane was something special. Brentnall said the Blues even decided to let their hair down in a big way the night before the game which would be unheard of now in the age of professional sport.
“We had a few beers and we had a few wines and a big seafood banquet which was beautiful," Brentnall said.
“We were approaching it as an exhibition game and we went in with a pretty relaxed attitude.
“We had a training session but our two managers said at the time we really don’t think this will happen again so they were happy for us to enjoy our time.”
Raudonikis had put his teammates on alert after his morning walk but they still weren’t ready for what greeted them when they arrived at Lang Park.
“The bus pulled up out the front and you had to go through the main bar at Lang Park to get to the dressing rooms,” Brentnall said.
“There was a huge crowd and they were lined up and we had to go through the middle of the bar and they’re all hissing at us, and we’re copping comments and they're grabbing our bags.
“It took us by surprise.”
That ill feeling continued well into the game with Queensland dishing out plenty to the NSW team, including when Queensland captain Arthur Beetson belted his Parramatta Eels teammate and NSW opponent Mick Cronin. That moment gave birth to the ‘state against state, mate against mate’ mantra which has now become synonymous with Origin.
Brentnall would have the distinction of scoring the first ever Origin try – he said that’s now become a great trivia question – but NSW couldn’t match it with the Maroons who powered away to a 20-10 victory. According to Brentnall the match had been played on a winners’ take all basis so Queensland players got a percentage of the gate, which reportedly amounted to $1000 per player, while NSW players only received $75 each for their expenses over two days.
“The start was very physical and it didn’t take us long to realise we were coming into an ambush and we probably hadn’t prepared well enough to get ourselves out of it,” Brentnall said.
“The crowd was intimidating, there’s no doubt about that, they certainly intimidated and lifted their own players.
“I was pretty proud to be part of it but the thing that sticks in my mind is if NSW had won that first game the whole concept would have been blown out of the water.
“It really was the saviour of the game.”