Michael Burgess: Why do Kiwis still care about State of Origin?

If you are wondering if State of Origin still matters, check out some of the water cooler talk around your office on Wednesday.

The annual Australian sporting mini-series is upon us again, and it's bound to provoke conversation.

It may not all be positive — people could be complaining about the late kick off times, the elongated buildup or the incessant hype — but it will still be talked about.

Origin may not be the trans-tasman phenomenon that it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it's still a big deal around New Zealand.

Even casual league watchers will tune in for at least some of tonight, maybe just to see
Phil Gould's infamous pre-game monologue and shuffle across the turf, or how many ex-players get camera time during the lead-in.

There'll be interest in any fireworks in the first few sets, and the latest technical and camera innovations that host broadcaster Channel Nine has come up with.

The enduring interest is quite some feat, especially in the age of fickle attention spans and the constant desire for something new.

Origin has been going for almost 40 years.

The 37th edition starts tomorrow night, but there remains a unquenchable thirst for, what is, after all, just a game between two Australian states.

Kiwis wouldn't be interested in the rugby, netball, football or cricket equivalent but there is something about the league series that never ceases to fascinate.

Maybe it's the tribalism, that is rare in New Zealand sport.

And there are always storylines aplenty, as young stars emerge, or old heroes are revived.

Crowds continue to flock to games, and television ratings are often through the roof (in 2017 only the Cinderella story of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal in the Australian Open final topped it as the most watched sports event in Australia).

Sure, there has been the odd dull game, and some have predicted Origin's demise over the years.

Even Queensland's recent dominance (they've triumphed in 11 of the last 12 years) hasn't killed the golden goose, whereas, as a parallel, interest in the Bledisloe Cup has nose dived with the ongoing All Blacks supremacy.

But Origin mostly continues to deliver and live up to the occasion — just look at last year.

Queensland were smashed 28-4 in the first match, and on the ropes when they trailed 16-6 with less than 30 minutes to play in the second game.

But they found a way back, with Jonathan Thurston defying a shoulder injury (which ended his club season), to orchestrate the Maroons comeback, before they took the decider a week later.

The Origin footprint was established here in the late 1980s, with games live on free to air television.

A generation of Kiwis adopted a state, with Queensland usually most popular, due to their traditional underdog status.

Interest peaked in 1991 and 1992 when former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe was in charge of the Maroons, but has remained relatively high ever since.

The series has its detractors, especially those that resent the broadcaster-driven hype that accompanies the matches.

But there is nothing wrong with celebrating history, done before every game, and mostly the action delivers, with some of the best, most intense sport of any code you'll see all year.

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