Considering that rugby union is much more popular around the globe, some who come across this site might not have much interest in rugby league or the State of Origin series. If you are a union fan who thinks you’ve got no room for league in your interests, I suggest you set aside some time to sit through this one-hour television special titled “Thirty Years of Origin: A Celebration” and see whether you still feel that way:

Considering that logic, the format of July’s two biggest three-match series in rugby league and rugby union might seem a bit odd to Americans. The British and Irish Lions tour culminates in a best-of-three test match series against the hosting nation, and the State of Origin interstate series is a best-of-three as well. This year, both series were “clinched” after two matches. On the Lions’ tour, South Africa won two in a row against the visitors while Queensland won the first two Origin matches against New South Wales. That left the final matches of both series with the derogatory “dead rubber” title. Competitors and fans were left with two matches that meant nothing to the series outcome.

One might ask: “Why bother playing them if they don’t matter?” The dead rubbers don’t matter to the series, sure, but have a look at these clips from the third matches of the two series and see if you think they didn’t matter:

British and Irish Lions match three:

State of Origin match three:

Dead rubbers indeed!

An exciting year will also help to live up to the promise of the sport’s recent television promotions, such as this ad for the new season (before the campaign was scrapped as another scandal looms over the NRL and featured player Brett Stewart):

Similarly, Reg Reagan alter ego Matthew Johns is pitching club memberships with the promise of fun for all:

The thriller of the 2009 ads, though, is no doubt this ad for the upcoming State of Origin series:

Will the matches live up to the hype? Let’s hope so! Of course, no discussion of NRL promos is complete without the classic “That’s my Team” campaign from a few years back:

It’s easy to see why, given that Storm players have been involved in two of the most exciting tries in rugby league this year. First, Greg Inglis set up an Australia try with this magical move in a test match against New Zealand:

Then, Israel Folau scored a pair of tries for Queensland in the third match of the State of Origin series, the second of which was gravity-defying:

It will be exciting to see what these and other Storm stars will do in the upcoming NRL knockout matches. Of course, not everyone is a Storm backer, as you can see in this insurance company ad from a few years back featuring some Brisbane Broncos:

Why is Willie Mason so eager to get inflammatory quotes in the press? One recent opinion piece suggests that the rants may be intended to distract from mediocre Origin performances.

Whatever the reason, Big Willie keeps managing to turn up in the press a lot, as is chronicled in this song from Mick Meredith (Caution: Some rude innuendo/imagery):

If you’d rather feel like you were there, here is a clip of highlights filmed from a seat in the crowd at Suncorp Stadium:

a 30-0 scoreline is pretty amazing in the hotly contested interstate series. As you can see, a win like that has people dreaming of playing for Queensland:

Given that it’s too early for highlights from the Origin match, here’s a clip of Boyd scoring a fantastic team try that stretched nearly the length of the field against the Gold Coast Titans in Round Six of the 2008 NRL season:

Hunt must be disappointed at having to watch at least some of the match from the bench, having recently noted that he finds watching rugby league boring. The good news is for the announcers, who will have less chance of an embarrassing slip-up over his name, as this clip from last year’s series appears to show. Did Ray “Rabbits” Warren really say what it sounds like he said? You be the judge (Caution: clip contains apparent accidental profanity):