Billy Slater’s war of words with Aaron Woods has sparked debate over whether pre-game Origin coverage may need to be toned down in the future.
Woods called the Maroons coach a “grub” last week, before Slater hit back at a pre-game press conference ahead of game two in Perth.
“You don’t know what people are going through,” Slater said, in response to Woods’ comment.
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Is trash talk in Origin dead?! | 03:15
“And although I might be able to handle it, the next person mightn’t be. Maybe our last coach didn’t.”
The “last coach” Slater was referring to was former Queensland mentor Paul Green, who tragically took his own life in 2022.
On Back Page Live on Tuesday night, veteran journalist Robert Craddock said the Slater-Woods spat would be a watershed moment for Origin media coverage.
“I wonder whether it will change the whole narrative around coverage, whether the word ‘grub’ will ever be used again, given it was used in that context,” Craddock pondered.
“State of Origin banter over the years has its own sort of language, missiles fired north of the border and south of the border.
“You watch. This will change the coverage of State of Origin football.
“Would you be calling anyone a ‘grub’ again? The word just may disappear.
“Over the years, there’s just been a different sort of banter in State of Origin.”
‘Billy went a little over the boundary’ | 04:15
Craddock added the fact Slater played his whole career in AFL-mad Melbourne meant he may not have been “conditioned” to deal with the public Origin barbs in the same way as players at NRL clubs based in Sydney.
“I sometimes feel that the Melbourne Storm guys, being a little bit out of the way of the madhouse of Sydney, don’t get quite as conditioned to it as some of the Sydney boys,” Craddock said.
On NRL 360 on Tuesday night, Maroons legend Gorden Tallis said he believes it’s time for pre-game Origin trash talk to come to an end.
“My theory is, we don’t need it,” Tallis said.
“(Queensland great) Arthur Beetson lit the fuse in 1980, and everybody else that has gone and played it, has kept on throwing flames and petrol on that fire.
“We don’t need to throw barbs.
“Do you really need it? I reckon let’s leave it to the players there, when they’re doing their press conferences.”
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Unpacking Billy’s ‘sensitive’ reaction | 04:31
But reporter Dean Ritchie had a different view.
Ritchie said it was important that the media continued to hype State of Origin.
“I think the argy-bargy pre-Origin is just as important as the game itself,” Ritchie said.
“I think we have to build Origin up. That’s what sets it aside from a club game.
“The players won’t say anything. The coaches don’t want the players to say anything because they don’t want to fuel the opposition.
“So we in the media take it upon ourselves to try and build the game up.”
On Wednesday morning, Woods took another shot at Slater.
Speaking on his Triple M breakfast radio show, Woods said Slater’s reference to Green was “completely unnecessary”.
