Fa-Fa-Fa-Fifita: Blacktown’s Finest Does The Damage On A Record Breaking Night For NSW
Image: twitter

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fifita: Blacktown’s Finest Does The Damage On A Record Breaking Night For NSW

Where there is life there are cockroaches. NSW finally emerged from a decade long nuclear winter last night to beat QLD with help from a rampaging Andrew Fifita.

He's 194 centimetres and 120 kilograms of First Australian-Polynesian-Blacktown rugby league goodness. Last night Andrew Fifita announced his arrival as the game's next genuine superstar with a man of the match performance in State of Origin I many are hailing the best by a big man since the glory days of the late great First Australian Queensland prop forward, Arthur Beetson.

Fifita provided the backbone of NSW's record breaking win over Queensland. The performance also closing the chapter on an early part of his career plagued by spats and indecency.

Advertisement

It included a try, a hand in at least two others, countless offloads, and almost 200 meters run in what was his first origin appearance in the NSW run-on side in eight games. His speed and agility throughout the game was nothing short of astounding given the physics at play. Conventional wisdom says someone that big simply shouldn't be able to move like that and Queensland never really found a way to contain the zig-zagging Fifita missile.

He set up the first try six minutes in after receiving an inside ball with an inch too much room to wind-up in. Shimmy-palm-bounce and a sublime offload later, Cronulla teammate, James Maloney was in space and scoring next to the sticks.

Every touch for the next 18 minutes had Queensland back-pedalling until Fifita was rubbed out of the game momentarily by a remarkable cheap shot from Queensland backrower, Josh Maguire.

As Fifita attempted to get to ground while bound by QLD defenders, Maguire rushed in from a distance of five meters and delivered the full force of his full 100 kilo plus frame, via his shoulder, to the exposed head and neck of Fifita. In this, the post-Alex McKinnon age, it was an unsavoury spectacle and Fifita was taken from the field for a concussion check shortly after. True to the culture of Origin, no penalty was forthcoming.

Ten minutes later, with Fifita off the field, Queensland hit back through a sublime cross-field kick from Cooper Cronk to find winger Cory Oates for the try.

Advertisement

With Fifita back on the field moments later, he immediately had the QLD defence on the back pedal, laying the platform for a dazzling exchange of passes between Wade Graham, James Tedesco, and finally Mitchell Pearce for a NSW try under the sticks and a 12-4 lead at the break.

Fifita's turn around has been remarkable. Born-and-bred in Blacktown, a low socioeconomic, housing commission hotspot in the forgotten far west of Sydney, the only thing as explosive as his running game when he was younger was his temper.

He and his identical twin, David, also a pro footballer, were famously slapped with $AUD30 000 fines by the NRL and, in Andrew's case a six week ban, after they threatened to tear an amateur park football referee limb from limb on the sidelines of a suburban game in Blacktown where they were running the water.

Fifita was again sanctioned by the NRL in 2016 and later omitted from the national team under coach Mal Meninga's 'no dickhead' policy after demonstrating his support for one-punch killer, Kieren Loveridge on his strapping tape during a club game.

It is believed this incident also saw him overlooked for the Clive Churchill medal in Cronulla's historic 2016 grand final win in which he arguably played the starring role.

The first stanza of Fifita's resurrection was complete but his performance in the second half was just as mesmerising. Footwork interchanged with terrifying straight running and countless offloads culminated in a rare try for the prop forward following a terrible drop ball by Queensland centre Justin O'Neill coming off his own line.

Advertisement

Backed up by an equally exceptional performance from fullback, James Tedesco, and starring support roles from halves James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce, debutante hooker Nathan Peats, and big men Boyd Cordner and David Klemmer, the NSW cockroaches 28-4 victory was the highest winning margin ever for a NSW team playing in Queensland.

The preceding decade-long reign of dominance by the Maroons over NSW is by far the longest in the 35-year-history of State of Origin. They have won a record ten series from the past 11, led by a remarkable assembly of talent that includes playmaker GOAT, Jonathan Thurston; the Melbourne Storm spine of Cameron Smith (captain), Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater; the freakish athleticism of Greg 'GI' Inglis out wide; and boppers like Matt Scott and Sam Thaiday in the middle.

From that playing list only Cronk, Thaiday and Cameron Smith lined up in origin I due to injury and old age, though the QLD team will be bolstered by the return of Thurston and possibly Slater for game two in Sydney. A fact NSW coach, Laurie Daley was quick to point out following the win.

"I don't know what they are going to do with Billy but if Billy comes back into the side along with JT, they will be a different team.

"They are at their dangerous, desperate best when they hit adversity. Losing JT obviously disrupted them. They will come back harder and our guys will need to get ready for that."