AH Origin. Possibly the only thing better than the footy are the yarns that come with it.

Forget your completions, composure and pre-game cliches.





This is what we really came for.

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Bus-stealing, brawling and flying bags.

‘DROP ME AT QLD ORIGIN CAMP, MATE’

Because Queensland have always seemed to understand Origin just that little bit better, they were haunting their own casino long before the Blues cottoned on.

Back in 1995, Paul Vautin’s storied Neville Nobody’s found themselves up 2-0 and staying on the Gold Coast prior to game three at Lang Park.

We’ll let the inimitable Billy Moore take it from here.

Billy Moore tries to tackle Greg Florimo in 1995. Source: News Limited

“We’ve had a ripping night at the casino and among the players we had our own bets going on who can stay out the latest,” Moore recalls.

“We had to train the next morning early on over at Pizzey Park, the Burleigh Bears home ground.

“Gary Larson and I, we’ve rolled back into the hotel at 6.30 in the morning, thinking we’ve got this in the bag.

“We got changed and got on the bus very pleased with ourselves, until we get to the ground and Mark Hohn gets out of a cab.

Maroons Billy Moore, Danny Moore and Brett Dallas celebrate the 1995 Origin win. Source: News Limited

“We were all hopeless, Hohny couldn’t catch a ball, he was crocodile snapping every time he went near it and there’s about 5000 people there.

“We finish the session, get on the bus after doing half an hour of autographs and eventually Fatty’s the last one on the bus.

“He gets on, shuts the door and you could cut the air with a knife as he just unloads.

“‘You’ve embarrassed yourselves, you’ve embarrassed Queensland and you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

“‘From now on there’s a curfew on you blokes. For the rest of this camp I want everyone home by 4am!’”

Gary Larson (L) & Billy Moore lift captain Trevor Gillmeister after Origin III. Source: News Corp Australia

FLETCH STEALS A BUS AND ITS DRIVER

Before they were based on the devil’s doorstep at the Casino, every Origin series the Blues called Coogee home.

Which made getting to Kings Cross for a bit of late-night sightseeing in Bryan Fletcher’s day more difficult than it should’ve been.

Unless you know a guy. Or get to know one very quickly.

“The time had come for us to leave,” Fletcher begins, insisting he, Ben Kennedy, Brett Kimmorely and Rodney Howe weren’t actually kicked out of the Coogee Bay Hotel ahead of game three in 2000.

Bryan Fletcher in action during Origin III, 2000. Picture: Phil Hillyard. Source: News Corp Australia

“So we’re going up to the Cross, and this is way before Uber and the taxis weren’t going to stop for us at 3am.

“It was myself, BK (Ben Kennedy), Rodney Howe and Noddy, we dragged Noddy along too even though he wanted no part of it.

“And yeah, we jumped on a bus and basically hijacked it. Speed was big back in those days — the movie that is.

“I remember the bus driver, he was a Filipino named Fernando.

“He was heading back to the depot at Waverley and we convinced him for a small fee to take us down to the Cross.

“We paid out of our pocket, we certainly didn’t put it on the NSW bill.

“And poor old Fernando has ended up going down a one-way street with BK directing him, we got ourselves stuck in a one-way street with Fernando needing to do a thousand point turn with us idiots on his bus.”

The NSW stars and their State Transit chariot eventually made it to infamous nightspot The Bourbon and Beefsteak, before going on to record their 56-16 demolition job on the Maroons.

And Fernando?

“The last I saw him was on The Bourbon dance floor downstairs with his brown coin bag over his shoulder.”

GEYER, THE KING FACE OFF

It’s one of the enduring images of State of Origin: a young Mark Geyer coming within millimetres of the great Wally Lewis at halftime in game two of the 1991 series.

But what’s the backstory?

Geyer had played in the series opener that year, but admitted he was below his aggressive best due to suspensions hanging over his head for future offences.

NSW selectors had told him he’d be picked again, but needed more aggression and that that he couldn’t get suspended “because it’s Origin”.

So Geyer rubbed his hands together and took it to the Maroons.

“Steve Walters ran the ball up and I said ‘this is it, this game’s in the (balance), someone’s gotta do something to make it explode’, and I picked myself as that bloke,” Geyer told League Legends.

“Walters did a voluntary tackle, and I said ‘c’mon man, this is Origin’, so I gave him a rabbit-chop to the back of the head and next minute all hell broke loose.

“Andrew Gee and I are trading blows, then out of the corner of my eye I heard this person calling out my name in a derogatory manner — ‘Geyer this and Geyer that’. It was Wally Lewis.

Maroons' Wally Lewis and Blues' Mark Geyer argue in torrential rain. Source: News Limited

“First thing I thought was, ‘Shit, Wally Lewis knows my name!’

“(Wally) said to the referee, Dave Manson, that I should be jail and that this bloke’s come out to try and maim people, he’s not playing footy. To a certain degree it was correct, but I was also having a pretty good game.

“Benny Elias is in the middle of Wally and I, and when Dave Manson looked away, he said ‘hit him right now’.

“It was Wally Lewis, who to me, was Origin. I’d watched him since 1980. It was surreal, me and The King. I was 22, 23 and I had the best player in the world in front of me.

“Should I throw a punch?

“All these things were going through my head. I didn’t (throw a punch) and I’m probably glad I didn’t because I don’t think we’d be talking about that incident some 26 years later.

“The fact that Wally showed me a bit of respect, meant a lot to me.”

WHEN TOMMY THREW OUT TURVEY’S BAG

The 1977 interstate series was the first time Steve Mortimer played for NSW.

He turned up to the airport ready to fly up to Brisbane with two bags — more gear than the likes of Arthur Beetson and Tommy Raudonikis.

When they arrived and hopped onto the bus, a fresh-faced Mortimer was forced to sit at the front, with the more experienced Test stars taking up the back seats.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the team was split into pairs with Mortimer drawing Raudonikis.

“I walk in and see this big kingsize bed, and I’m going ‘that’s bigger than mum and dad’s bed back in Wagga’,” Mortimer tells League Legends. “And there was a single bed.

“So I put my stuff on the kingsize bed and got the Rugby League Week out and my jersey and there’s a knock on the door. It’s my roommate.

“He sees the king bed, and says ‘what are you doing on that bed, that’s mine’.

“Tommy, he came over, I shut my eyes and thought he’s going to hit me.

“He just picked my bag up, I heard the window open and he threw it out.

“I said ‘Tommy, Dad said you’d try to upset me, I’ll pick that up mate, I’ll get that later’.”

SHE’LL BE APPLES, MATE

IT’S the team bonding session that went spectacularly badly – and didn’t involve a trace of alcohol.

The 1999 NSW training camp – where tee totalling coach Wayne Pearce took players on a country retreat and had them riding horses – is infamous for its extraordinarily bad results.

On the surface, it’s perfect: no booze, no chance of trouble. Right?

That is until two of the team’s star forwards get thrown from bucking broncos and ruled out for the series.

Most people remember that Melbourne prop Robbie Kearns broke his collarbone – which ultimately cost him a premiership ring, as the Storm went on to win their maiden title.

But often forgotten is champion lock Brad Clyde, by then at Canterbury, also felt the brunt of a hard fall caused by a seemingly innocent horse called Apples.

“The horse’s name was Apples, but it wasn’t apples for me I’m afraid,” Clyde told Sterlo’s On The Couch.

“It was something that you learn from, you try to take those funny moments and absorb it. But I missed the whole series due to it.

“(The horse) sure did (bolt). I had a foot in a stirrup, getting dragged along.”

When Peter Sterling explained that usually two feet in the stirrups is the more recognised practice, Clyde quickly agreed.

“That’s exactly right!” he said.

“I smashed up my shoulder. It wasn’t a great time. I spent eight weeks on the sideline.”