Queensland is "prepared to steal" State of Origin games from New South Wales following last week’s ANZ Stadium crowd "debacle," according to Peter Badel of the Brisbane COURIER-MAIL. Queensland Rugby League CEO Rob Moore "will support a bid to bring Sydney-based Origin games to Suncorp Stadium as competition for interstate fixtures intensifies." Rugby league’s traditional markets "received a wake-up call last Friday" when the Australian Rugby League Commission brokered a deal to stage an Origin game in Perth in '19. It is "the first definitive sign" the ARLC is prepared to "take the code’s showpiece event to new markets" on an annual basis, as economic realities "turn up the heat" on Queensland and NSW. NSW’s "passion for Origin came under the microscope last Wednesday night" when 61,267 attended Game Three, leaving more than 22,000 empty seats. About 30,000 free tickets were reportedly given away in a "desperate move to fill the cavernous ANZ Stadium." Moore said that if Suncorp Stadium "was in danger of losing a second match to markets such as Perth and Melbourne," Queensland would "consider poaching games from NSW." He said, "That’s an option. It’s something the Queensland government would need to support the game on. If there is a time in that cycle where a second game in NSW wasn’t wanted, I’m sure it would be an option (for Suncorp to bid for more Origin games)" (COURIER-MAIL, 7/17).
