The first victim of State of Origin is context.
For all the record ratings that the marquee series is able to generate come kick-off, it can be difficult to move the needle beforehand. The current series has been a hard sell for the beat reporters struggling to manufacture clicks.
The players we most want to hear from, Latrell Mitchell and Spencer Leniu, have slapped media bans on themselves; the opening encounter, at least as a spectacle, was not a patch on the absolute blockbuster finale that decided last year’s series; and NSW basing themselves in the Blue Mountains has made the squad less accessible to a media contingent attempting to find some flames to fan.
The Blues’ recent domination, coupled with limited access, is another contributing factor to making the Perth clash a tough sell.
So it was in this context that Aaron Woods, in an attempt to spark some interest and banter, got on the airwaves for his employers at Triple M and said the following.
Billy Slater has apologised for making reference to the late Paul GreenCredit: Getty Images
“I want to see the real Billy Slater come out – the grub that we know of,” Woods said. “This is a bloke who kicked John Skandalis in the head and got a six-week suspension.”
Given it was delivered on radio, we’ll never know if it was done with a serious face. Regardless, it was an attempt to spark interest in the series, via a cheeky barb at a player who sometimes pushed boundaries on the field.
It was blokey, jokey and even a little hokey.
Slater took the bait, but not in a way that anyone expected. It’s evident that Slater had thought long and hard about his response. Which made it all the more disproportionate.
Last year, NSW Michael Maguire proved superior in the game off the field, winning the Origin mind games.
Now we have gone from glasshouses to a glass jaw.
Slater had every right to clap back at Woods. But in referencing the late former Queensland coach Paul Green, who took his own life in 2022, he took it too far.
As Woods said on radio on Wednesday, Slater’s comments were “completely unnecessary for the situation.”
Slater knows better than anyone else the effect that words can have. Fifteen years ago, in a game against Newcastle, the-then Melbourne fullback sledged Corey Patterson about his mental health issues.
Paterson had only recently returned from a well-documented break after suffering from clinical depression and, at the lowest point of his mental breakdown, had suicidal thoughts.
Afterwards, Slater got on the phone to Paterson and apologised.
To his credit, this morning Slater produced another mea culpa. He conceded he was wrong to reference Green and apologised unreservedly to his family.
It was an unprecedented move given he will be coaching for his career later in the same day, in his most important game with the clipboard. But it was also the right thing to do.
“Yesterday, I wrongly made the link between Paul Green’s death and the stress and pressures of coaching, which wasn’t accurate, nor was it appropriate,” Slater said.
“I feel terrible about what I said. I spoke to Amanda Green this morning and apologised for any hurt that may have caused her and her family.
“Paul had CTE, which is a different disease to what I was referring to. Once again, I’m deeply and genuinely sorry.”
Woods and Slater are fine men with opinions well worth listening to. Both, for their own means, leant into the theatre that is State of Origin, and we all arrived somewhere unexpected. Hopefully, they can put this behind them.
They may come from opposite sides of the Tweed and one will be on the wrong side of the ledger at full-time. But there are more important things than a game of football.
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