Steve Price was laying on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from the mouth after being dropped by a Brett White punch.
Trent Waterhouse had hit the Queensland prop with a blindside tackle just as White's brutal haymaker landed.
Justin Poore stood over the motionless Price and grabbed him by the shirtfront, lifting his torso off the ground then dropping him back down on the Suncorp Stadium turf. The unconscious prop's head hit the ground.
It was unwarranted and ugly. A "dog act", by Queensland's reckoning.
Price and White had stood toe-to-toe; it was a fair fight, however brutal the outcome. But the Maroons were enraged by what followed from Waterhouse and Poore.
"It was the replay up on the big screen, that's when the guys started to see it; no one really saw what happened live," Queensland captain Darren Lockyer told Wide World of Sports' The Dynasty, recalling the Origin III incident from 2009.
"But just the fact that Pricey's head came up and got put back down on the ground [by Poore] sort of upset a few.
"We'd lost the game, there was less than 10 minutes to go. We'd won the series, we'd performed pretty average that night and NSW deserved their victory, but that was a bit of a heated moment where the crowd got quite angry with what happened to Pricey."
The Queenslanders were incensed. Price left the field on a stretcher and in a neck brace.
Hooker Cameron Smith said that Poore had a target on his head after the game, claiming that the NSW prop could have paralysed or killed Price.
"Anyone with a serious neck injury, he could end up paralysed or thinking in the worst terms, you're talking about death," Smith said afterwards.
"It's uncalled for. It was reckless. It's a very silly thing he did. If he's a part of the team in game one [next year], don't think any of the Queenslanders will be looking at it too lightly. They'll still be a little fire burning in the bellies carrying into next year.
"Pricey could have had any injury to his head or neck and Poore has come in and done that. The first thing you get told not to do, if any bloke is on the ground in the state Pricey was in, is not to touch them.
"He's come in, grabbed him, pulled him up and let him go again. That's what the boys are very upset with."
Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston said that there was a misconception on the field that Waterhouse, who was sent off, had king-hit Price.
"The actual contact that I think Whitey had made, it looked like Trent Waterhouse had come from the side and cleaned Pricey up, so none of us saw the actual contact that Whitey had made which put Pricey on his backside. It looked like Waterhouse had come from the side and got Pricey and I think that's what really got under the boys' skin.
"It really wasn't until after the game that we actually saw the footage."
Fullback Billy Slater said on The Dynasty: "That would have to be the most heated moment that I've been involved in in Origin."
It was far from over - though the infamous episode that occurred next didn't go to plan.
"I remember, being the captain and we got the penalty," Lockyer said.
"I went to kick the ball out and the boys, Hodgo (Justin Hodges), they were all pretty fired up. They all wanted NSW to have the ball back.
"So I gave the ball to Smithy and just said, 'Just tap it and throw it back to 'em'. In other words, what I was hoping Smithy would do was just tap it and just throw it to the big boys, because the big boys wanted to rip in.
"And then Smithy kicks it down to Kurt Gidley."
There was less than a minute to go by the time that Smith launched a bomb straight off the tap. It was an unvarnished square-up; give NSW the ball, then everyone rush in to bash them.
Yet Gidley, the 85kg NSW fullback and captain, wasn't the intended target.
Sam Thaiday barged over a NSW player in the kick chase. Neville Costigan was first to Gidley, hitting him hard before Thurston, Lockyer, and Hodges joined in. It wasn't as gratuitous as some remember; big men like Mick Crocker, David Shillington and Greg Inglis resisted the urge to pile on when it was clear that Gidley was tackled.
Gidley took his medicine like the tough professional that he was. But the incident sparked another angry melee; one that dogged NSW forward Ben Creagh, who ran in to shove Hodges before quickly backtracking.
"It wasn't a great look - we kicked to the smallest guy on the team and sent 13 blokes down to get stuck into him!" Lockyer said.
"That didn't quite go to plan, but I do remember that was a pretty [heated moment]. There was a lot of anger among the boys on the field and I think the fans were pretty upset as well."
Slater added: "Poor old Kurt Gidley's the best bloke you'll ever meet."
Gidley became an unintended whipping boy, but the Maroons were filthy at NSW. Hodges admitted that he had called for the square-up.
"They hurt one of our brothers and we wanted to hurt them back," Hodges said.
"We'll get them next year. It's going to be fiery. We weren't going to win the game, so we just wanted to go up and hurt them. I got a bit aggressive at the end there but that's footy. You live and die for this jersey."
It wasn't just firebrands like Hodges who were upset.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Price's Maroons front-row partner Petero Civoniceva told AAP of Poore's actions.
"It was one of the lowest acts I've seen on a football field. If the guy is trying to build his character or being tough … I thought it was pretty gutless."
Inglis said: "Pricey's one of our brothers and that was a dog act. It won't be forgotten."
Poore never played Origin again.
"I can assure you I certainly didn't intend to do Steve Price any harm,'' he told The Sunday Telegraph.
"Had I realised the seriousness of the situation, of course I wouldn't have picked him up the way I did.
"There were fights breaking out everywhere and it was Origin ... so I just didn't think. In hindsight, I know it wasn't the best look. But I don't consider myself a dirty player. And I hope people can understand that.''
Price later revealed that Poore had called him to apologise.
"It was a pretty big call to make," Price said. "If it was me and I didn't mean to do it, I would feel pretty bad and hopefully he can move on and we can all move on."
White, who was teammates with several Queensland stars at Melbourne Storm, also called Price; a move the Queensland prop called "very honourable".
"Steve Price is a decent bloke and a good role model,'' White said.
"I wanted to make sure he was sweet and assure him it wasn't premeditated or anything like that ... To be truthful, I'm a bit surprised I threw one that hard.''
White revealed after the game that Storm teammate Inglis was so angry about the Price Ko that he'd said, "I'm going to f---ing kill you."
White said of the Poore incident: "I'm sure if he had his time again, he wouldn't have done it.
"That's the thing all the Queensland boys at the Storm are angry about. It's the golden rule the trainers always go off about. You don't touch a knocked-out player. They don't even like you taking out his mouth guard.''
While Queensland lost that Origin game 28-16, they had already won a record fourth consecutive series and were only halfway through their iconic streak of eight straight victories.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/origin-kurt-gidley-bomb-steve-price-darren-lockyer-billy-slater-johnathan-thurston/ceeeef12-e591-4378-a8db-88f98c68d04e
0 Comments