By GAVIN BANNERMAN
IT WAS Â the best beer advertisement in years and it wasn’t even paid for. I challenge anybody to view the scenes in the North Queensland changerooms after defeating Parramatta in the elimination semi – weary but jubilant blokes slouched in plastic chairs, cold tins being passed around by the highest paid bartenders in Australia – and not feel a XXXX coming on. This was a live, real-time celebration of the Milton mango.
It brings me to a thought: is post-match coverage some of the most compelling in rugby league right now? You had the Cowboys’ thrillingly old-school camaraderie on Saturday night along with similarly illuminating scenes after the Brisbane-Penrith match. What was Todd Greenberg saying to Darius Boyd? Does he know what a neural hamstring injury is?
Other highlights from this year’s extended post-match coverage include Andrew Johns’ post-Origin takedowns. It was compelling television. It was heartfelt and real.
What I’m not romanticising is the immediate post-match interview. Generally players give little away: they either want to hose down expectations if they won or talk up expectations if they lost. The microphone under the nose of a player still processing the result seldom reveals much. It’s often only 30 minutes after full time that things emerge.
Is it because broadcasters assume everyone has turned off already? It definitely has a looser feel about it. In any case, the dressing room scenes, the pathos of the commentators with skin in the game, have become a must watch for me.
On the Cowboys’ scenes, mention must be made of what they revealed. To see Matt Scott and Jonathan Thurston, the two injured captains, filling eskies, putting empty ice bags in bins and handing out beers to everyone demonstrated so clearly what the club is about.
The All Blacks have become renowned for sweeping out their own change rooms after games. The story is used as a sporting benchmark: if this team, one of the most successful in world, can demonstrate such humility and selflessness, what does it say about their approach on the field?
I would suggest the Cowboys may have just gone to the next level. They’ve found a winning formula and convinced even their players of southern origin that the future is Gold.
