THANK you Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
The playful niggle from the giant Queensland Reds lock has revived a grand tradition of verbal jousting to go with the uncompromising physical combat whenever Queensland and NSW meet on the field.
It will be full-on from the 6:35pm kick-off at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night when the latest Battle of the Border is a highlight of Kids Round in SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific.
Salakaia-Loto has happily jabbed a little at his close friend and former teammate Taniela Tupou, the former Red in the NSW front-row.
"(Taniela) actually sent me a picture of him in a Waratahs jersey and I thought I was looking at a picture of the sky on my phone - he's that massive," Salakai-Loto joked in January.
"I've told him that it's not right, doesn't look right."
He followed up this week on X (formerly Twitter) by creating a hashtag, #XXXXXXXXXLsinglet
It’s all pretty mild compared to the old days of Super Rugby which kicked off with a classic encounter at Ballymore in 1996 when the states collided.
Reds winger Damian Smith was sent off for an early punching frenzy yet the Queenslanders still triumphed 15-13 with just 14 men for most of the match.
Smith has lived off a brilliant one-liner ever since because he was actually ejected when not connecting.
“I can’t believe I missed something that big,” Smith quipped of missing the head of NSW Waratahs winger David Campese.
The Queensland vs NSW rivalry hasn’t been built on winning every game. It’s because it is such an ebb-and-flow match-up of such high stakes that it grabs you.
Incredibly, both sides have won 20 times in the 41 Super Rugby games between the states since the professional era began. There was the 17-all draw of 1998 as well.
That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of a rugby rivalry that goes back over 140 years.
When David Codey had his old Queensland jersey framed, he kept the dried blood on the collar as a little reminder of the full-on ferocity of matches against NSW.
There’s no explanatory plaque anywhere on the frame suggesting that the tall, combative flanker actually brought it on himself during a crazy period in 1984.
Plenty of players have jumped the border over the years to play for both states. You only have to checklist Izaia Perese, Rob Simmons, Karmichael Hunt, Lawson Creighton, Tupou and others.
What Codey did in 1984 has a rare place in Australian rugby history.
You want inflammatory. He played for both states. In the same season. In the same interstate series. Inside six weeks. No wonder Simon Poidevin’s eyes were spinning as teammate-turned foe and the term “traitor” was thrown in the dark corners of rucks.
Wins for the Reds have been fashioned as favourites or when fighting for the jersey when seemingly on the slide.
It got pretty grim with a 0-4 start in 2003 for former Reds coach Andrew Slack until a stunning 35-23 turnaround against NSW in Sydney.
On-field runner Damian Mednis chuckled to Slack through his headpiece from centrefield when the win was assured.
“For The Good Times,” is all he said. He had tipped Slack into a Sandown race winner that same day -- a $5.50 pop, For The Good Times.
That’s what it is all about. For the good times.
Let’s relive a few classic sledges from the Queensland-NSW rivalry.
TALE OF THE TAUNTS
1 “I can't believe I missed something that big" -- Queensland winger Damian Smith after throwing a punch and missing the head of NSW winger David Campese in 1996.
2 “Do those pies come with sauce?" -- Reds No.8 Toutai Kefu sledging former Queenslander Brendan Cannon as a “pie-thrower" for botching a lineout throw for NSW in 2000.
3 “You're better suited to playing at 3pm than at prime time'' -- NSW back Morgan Turinui waving Reds prop Tama Tuirirangi to the sin-bin in 2007.
4 “It was great touring with Queenslanders because it always ensured there were some terrific banjo players in the team" -- NSW great Simon Poidevin delivers his in-breeding sledge.
5 The Queensland team is ridiculed as the “SML Reds" for “Stone Motherless Last Reds" throughout the interstate luncheon in Sydney in 2003. Match score: Queensland 35, NSW 23.
6 “He couldn't coach a choko vine over a dunny door'' -- The late Jim Kenny on NSW coaching rival David Brockhoff in the 1970s.
7 “The definition of cockroach -- noxious, troublesome or objectionable animals -- sums up plenty of NSW players I played against” -- Queensland prop Dan Crowley in 2001.
8 The Waratahs needle the Reds over their “hillbilly” interstate luncheon. That’s Hillbilly as in The Beverly Hillbillies, of televison fame, for the uninitiated. The Reds won 23-7 in front of more than 40,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium. Players yelped “yee-hah” as the Waratahs’ fate was sealed.
