Dislike for NSW grows from deep and different parts of the Queensland psyche and so it did for Reds coach Brad Thorn.
More of that later.
Friday’s Reds-Waratahs clash at Leichhardt Oval means as much as any interstate match of the past and Thorn makes sure of it.
It was Thorn who made sure the Queenslanders ditched red and returned to a maroon jersey full-time in 2019 after predecessor Nick Stiles had reintroduced an old-school maroon jersey for a one-off smash-up against the Waratahs in 2017.
Everything that Thorn has done to crank up the Queensland identity to the Reds in recent years makes beating NSW even more a part of the fabric of a season.
To him, the jersey switch was a non-brainer.
“When you think about representing sport in Queensland, you think about maroon,” Thorn said.
There is now an embossed outline of the state on the 2022 jersey plus the names of the more than 200 rugby clubs in the state from Souths to Mt Isa.
“All those things add up...going full-time to the maroon jersey, being out amongst the state with Reds-to-Regions each year, going to communities, connecting, the positive way we play and 90 per cent of the team having a Queensland connection,” Thorn said.
“You knew that all we were doing on and off the field had come together at Suncorp Stadium for the Super Rugby AU final last year. More than 40,000 people believed in us. That was a special night.
“So much hard work goes into it. It just shows you that Queenslanders, Australians, are passionate about their rugby if you show pride in that jersey. If they see quality and entertainment they’ll buy in.”
The fans definitely bought into thrashing the Waratahs 41-7 and 46-14 last year.
Be smug while you can. It’s not so long ago that the Waratahs belted the Reds 32-5 and 34-3 in 2014 to start a run of 11 straight victories on interstate night.
When the Reds beat the Waratahs regularly in the 1990s, didn't Queenslanders crow.
Queensland’s former Wallabies lock Rod McCall loved pouring petrol on Australian rugby’s oldest and most combustible rivalry.
McCall did his bit to stir things up at an old interstate lunch in Brisbane in the early 2000s when there were literally no boundaries.
"You always knew that in NSW sides there were a lot of big-noting, pea-hearted imposters," McCall said of his experiences in the 1980s and '90s. He delivered the line so drily you didn't know how tongue-in-cheek it was.
It’s not Thorn’s place to say the Waratahs are at the start of the rebuild that has taken more than four years in Queensland. You can win games but getting a state's support is far more than the 80 minutes on the field.
Thorn won’t go as far as wishing a resurgence on NSW rugby. He prefers to phrase it this way.
“I just think, for Australian rugby, you want to see all five teams playing in strong and good contests against fellow Aussie teams and against the Kiwis to come,” Thorn said.
“We’re all looking for a world-class tournament.
“Playing NSW is the traditional rivalry. It’s always a toughly-contested battle against those guys. We expect nothing different."
READ MORE
DRAW: Super W fixtures confirmed
'EMBARASSING': Rebels looking to bounce back
BEST OF THEM: Brumbies ready for Drua challenge
So where did Thorn’s disdain for NSW first sprout? He was a Kiwi boy in Brisbane in the 1980s so it had to come from a different source to some.
Thorn played 11 games for Queensland in the fierce cauldron of State of Origin rugby league and it was well and truly fired up by then.
“I was asked in Origin camp by (coach) “Fatty” Vautin...’What don’t you like about NSW?,” Thorn recalled of 1996.
“I first made a Queensland state team at 12 when I was playing Aussie Rules.
“Right through to when I was making Queensland junior league teams at 16 or 17, NSW always seem to have the real flash gear.
“They just seemed to have the flash stuff, the sharp tracksuits, all the get-up. It was the way they were getting around in it.
“It used to get under my skin, me being a state school kid (from Aspley State High) chipping away.
“That gave me a little bit of motivation.
“When I brought that up the whole room loved it.”
You hope there are similar stories like this in the minds of Queensland and NSW players alike. It will help make Friday’s interstate clash the match it needs to be.
