Origin stunner thrills Perth fans as Bears plot entry
Michael Ramsey |
It’s the biggest show in town but you wouldn’t have known it from reading the local news.
Perth’s Optus Stadium was transformed into a sea of maroon and blue as 57,023 fans gathered on Wednesday night for Origin II – the third straight sellout for Origin games hosted in the Western Australian capital.
And they were treated to a frantic and at-times ferocious display as Queensland held off an extraordinary NSW comeback to level the series with a 26-24 victory on coach Billy Slater’s 42nd birthday.
It wasn’t pretty but it won’t faze Maroons fans who were in full voice in pelting rain and under heavy smoke haze that lingered from halftime fireworks.
While NRL administrators will be heartened as they look to win support for new franchise the Perth Bears, visiting fans glancing at the local newspaper over breakfast might have wondered if they were in the right city.
There was barely a mention of Origin in The West Australian’s game day edition, with a front page graphic – ‘State of Origin’s Back: WA’s Dockers v Victoria’s Bombers – instead highlighting the following night’s local AFL fixture.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys in May highlighted perceived bias from the Seven West Media-owned monopoly daily newspaper, after a local headline of “Bad News Bears” labelled the club a “dud second-division team” from Sydney.
“Let’s be quite frank: They don’t want us to be here,” V’landys said, highlighting Seven West Media’s free-to-air AFL rights deal.
Whether the Bears can meet ambitions to secure 30,000 members for their first season in 2027 remains to be seen. There are plenty of league fans in the AFL-mad west but many have pre-existing loyalties.
Fireworks lit up Optus Stadium at halftime as a glossy video package – met with muted applause by those still in their seats – implored West Australians to “be part of history” by signing up for Bears membership.
“It’s been immense, the amount of support that I’ve received and the Perth Bears have received,” inaugural Bears coach and Queensland great Mal Meninga told Nine’s broadcast.
“Let’s hope the game tonight will excite all the people, the fans here.”
Spirits were certainly high among fans who packed out bars in the stadium precinct long before the opening whistle.
Resources-rich WA has gone to great lengths in recent years to lure box-office events ranging from Socceroos and Matildas internationals and NRL games to UFC bouts and even pro-wrestling shows.
Plans to stage an international bare-knuckle boxing event deemed “barbaric” by critics were nixed earlier in June by local authorities, and while Origin II didn’t quite reach combat sports territory, it was still a fiery affair.
NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai was placed on report amid an apparent allegation of eye-gouging against Queensland second-rower Reuben Cotter.
Blues winger Zac Lomax was earlier penalised over a stray elbow which caught Trent Loiero in the side of the head.
AAP
