To look ahead to the latest State of Origin encounter at the MCG, we must look back at the first State of Origin encounter at the MCG...
Wednesday, June 8, 1994, Melbourne.
A few weeks removed from the Mark Coyne Miracle in Sydney to give Queensland a 1-0 lead, State of Origin returned to Melbourne for the first time since the game at Olympic Park in 1990, although this time rugby league's greatest spectacle would be centre stage at Australia's sporting cathedral of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and the response was amazing, with the crowd of 87,161 proving the greatest attendance for both a State of Origin game, and a rugby league game in Australia (At the time)...
If you want a reference on that, the previous record for a State of Origin crowd was 42,048 at the SCG for Game II of the 1987 series.
While Stadium Australia later claimed that Australian record several times over, 1994 stood as the Origin crowd record until Game II of 1999, when it was surpassed by the crowd of 88,336 in the first Origin game at Stadium Australia, but the MCG reclaimed the record with 91,513 for Game II in 2015, which still stands as the only 90,000+ crowd in Origin history.
As for the teams, some of the players that debuted in Origin that night were absolute quality:
Canberra fullback Brett Mullins debuted on the wing in place of the unavailable Rod Wishart, partnering Andrew Ettinghausen on the wing after Penrith's Graham Mackay was dropped.
Bulldogs second rower (And future Bulldogs coach) Dean Pay made the first of his 12 appearances in the NSW forward pack.
Raiders winger Ken Nagas (Who went on to score 2 tries in the '94 Grand Final) debuted off the bench in his only Origin series for New South Wales.
And for Queensland, Adrian Vowles made his only Origin appearance off the bench (He later went on to win the Man of Steel Award in the Super League)...
And a certain St George second rower named Gorden Tallis made his Origin debut off the bench, the first of 20 appearances for the Maroons, at least two of which proved very memorable for us all.
Another highlight was Kerrod Walters coming in to play at hooker in place of his brother Steve, while Kerrod's twin brother Kevin Walters played in his usual five-eighth position, in what was Kerrod's last appearance in an Origin game.
Ultimately though, the game never really lived up to great heights, as Phil Gould's game plan suffocated the Queenslanders and set up a 14-0 New South Wales victory, starting with Ben Elias feeding in Glenn Lazarus for the opening try in the 1st Half, to set up an 8-0 halftime lead, and after some great scrambling defence from the Blues, the result was sealed by Ricky Stuart's reverse pass for Paul McGregor in the 69th minute to make it 14-0...
It coulda woulda shoulda finished 16-0, but Tim Brasher, who was 3-3 with the boot, missed the kick from 10m out adjacent to the uprights, as the final 10 minutes featured more scramble defence from the Blues, and Ricky Stuart trying to make love to Darren Fritz.
The result would serve as the Blues' last shutout of the Maroons until Game II of 2021, while Queensland would shut the Blues out not even 12 months later with a 2-0 win in Game I of 1995.
Ultimately, New South Wales used the momentum from the win at the MCG to go up to Lang Park and win the deciding Game III 27-12, ruining Mal Meninga's farewell to the Origin arena in what was his record 38th appearance for the Maroons, while it was also Ben Elias' farewell to Origin, and it marked the first time in Origin history that New South Wales had won a deciding Game III in Brisbane.
Historical Notes:
Origin would return to the MCG for Game II in 1995 as the Super League War was well and truly underway, with Fatty Vautin's Queensland winning 20-12 to secure the almighty series upset, although the crowd of 52,994 was well down on 1994's record crowd...
However, those who did attend got to see one of the greatest brawls in Origin history 3 minutes in, with some 20 players getting involved after Jim Serdaris started belting Wayne Bartrim in a scrum, followed by David Barnhill and Billy Moore having their private punch-on, plus opposing captains Trevor Gillmeister and Brad Fittler, and Manly teammates John Hopoate and Danny Moore, ultimately lasting 5 minutes without time being stopped.
Nobody got sin binned, but later in the half Paul Harrogan and Gavin Allen got sent to the bin after another fight.
The 1994 game, plus the 1995 game, also led to the ARL accepting that a Melbourne-based club in the First Grade competition was a realistic prospect, and after the Super League War took hold and disrupted multiple plans, it was ultimately Super League boss John Ribot (With support from News Limited) that pushed ahead with the Melbourne club, which became the Melbourne Storm that joined the reformed National Rugby League in 1998, going on to become the most successful NRL club of the 21st Century, despite some questionable finances.
There was another MCG Origin game for Game II of the ARL's 1997 Origin Series, but the crowd of 25,105 in the midst of the Super League Wars served as the last Melbourne Origin venture prior to the Melbourne Storm's foundation.
Origin ultimately returned to Melbourne when the Docklands Stadium (Then the Telstra Dome) hosted the deciding Game III of the 2006 series, the game that featured a memorable late Queensland comeback to kickstart the dynasty:
After that, Melbourne has become a triennial feature of State of Origin locations (Excusing the COVID year of 2021), with Etihad Stadium coming back for Game I of the 2009 and 2012 series, with the 2012 opener attracting a crowd of 56,021, which was the crowd record for Docklands Stadium at the time, now surpassed by 2 UFC bouts and a Wallabies vs British & Irish Lions test in 2013.
Can we see a crowd of 92,000 on Wednesday night?
I don't know, that's why I was asking.
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