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'Can't punch anyone in the head': State of Origin still strong without fights

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The days of “punching anyone in the head” are over and Queensland’s State of Origin preparation included watching an episode of children’s television series Bluey.

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But Valentine Holmes will tell you the goosebumps still appear and the sore bodies exist in the new age of Origin.

“We’re expecting a tough, grudgy one and we’re ready for it,” Holmes said ahead of Sunday’s Origin II at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

“In camp we focus on ourselves, but people watching from the outside, it gives me goosebumps talking about it.

“I remember as a young kid … the build-up was something special.

“These days we have HIA and it’s (player safety) gone in a good direction.

“You can’t punch anyone in the head, but it’s still quite fast and physical out there.”

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Popular series Bluey, based on a Brisbane family of Blue Heelers, produced an Origin episode that featured Ray Warren’s commentary and a classic Maroons victory.

Holmes and his teammates enjoyed an early release of that episode and the good-natured build up continued when rival coaches Billy Slater and Brad Fittler traded compliments at Saturday’s joint press conference in the Perth CBD.

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“We’re coming into a period in Origin where both teams are just stacked with players playing in good teams and in good form,” Fittler said.

“Not just this year, but in coming years, it’s going to be a great period in State of Origin and just close-fought battles.”

The Blues even suggested they were too nice after the 16-10 game one loss in Sydney, but rival skipper Daly Cherry-Evans reckons they were nasty enough.

“I was sore for four days after and most of my teammates were too, so I’m not sure they were too nice,” he said.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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