It’s disrespectful to suggest Marcus Bontempelli, Patrick Cripps and other AFL Origin stars won’t play hard

It’s about time people started showing the Origin players some respect. Call me naive, call me a footy tragic, or maybe call me a romantic, but I just can’t get my head around the idea that the best players in the AFL won’t treat Saturday’s State of Origin game seriously. Surely nine current or former club captains, plus the host of megastars who are about to pull on their State jumpers deserve more respect than that. Have you ever seen a game where Marcus Bontempelli hasn’t gone 100 per cent at the footy? Can you see a scenario where Nick Daicos doesn’t want to win a contest? Do you really think Patrick Cripps has put himself up as one of the faces of the game, travelled to Perth to promote the game months in advance and accepted the captaincy while knowing he won’t try his best? Cripps hasn’t had a season where he had more uncontested possessions than contested possessions since his debut year in 2014. He will never feel content just hanging around on the outside. Does Sam Taylor want to give Sam Darcy any added confidence ahead of their match-up in round one by allowing the Bulldog to have it easy close to goal for Victoria? Of course not. This is the first televised game of the pre-season. Everyone will be watching. No player would want to embarrass themselves. Would Dean Cox feel comfortable walking around New South Wales not only as a losing Origin coach, but one that allowed players to take it easy? Of course not. Chris Scott has the best winning record of any man to have coached more than 350 games. He’s a winner. And he’s always been tough. If the Origin game wasn’t taking place, the players would be back at home competing in intra-club matches. Pat Voss absolutely destroyed Ollie Murphy during Fremantle’s intra-club game in Bunbury on Friday. West Coast co-captain Liam Duggan copped an elbow to the head during the Eagles’ intra-club. And GWS star Tom Green looks set to miss the season after injuring his knee at Giants HQ. Injuries happen all the time. Adelaide’s Dan Curtin dislocated his knee in a wrestling drill with his captain, Jordan Dawson, last month. Luke Ryan broke his ribs backing into the path of Jye Amiss during a training session last year. Players are competitive and this group looks hungry. Jordan Clark had every right to pull out of this game after an injury scare at training during the week. He looked devastated after rolling his ankle. In the mid-to-late 90s, that would have been enough for Clark to have been instantly ruled out. But he’s playing. So instead of doubting everyone, how about we do the opposite. Let’s assume everyone is going to have a crack, raise the expectations for the match and then if somebody does disrespect the jumper, they will have to answer to the scrutiny that comes. It’s actually a really good weekend to have an Origin game on. The NBA has its All-Star game this weekend too, and that’s an occasion which has been treated with contempt for many years. The NBA players have suffered ridicule because of their approach to the day. So let’s see who is more serious - our AFL players or the multimillion-dollar NBA stars? I’ll back the AFL guys. An AFL Origin game in February isn’t going to compare to the intensity of a NRL Origin game. But that’s a different type of rivalry. It’s built on decades of ongoing hatred. Dozens of NRL Origin players sat out of club games last season because they were prioritising being ready to play for their State. That is unfathomable in AFL. But our sport needs representative games. AFL players don’t have the honour of representing their country. They deserve the chance to be selected alongside their peers and actually compete. The biggest threat to the physicality of Origin isn’t attitude - it’s skill. Most big contests occur after somebody misses a target. It is usually the fringe players who commit those errors in games. There’s no fringe players on the field for Origin. The ball could ping from end to end so quickly that it never hits the ground and that will make it impossible to lay any type of tackle. Players have been asking for representative footy to return. This is the modern generation’s chance to right the wrongs of Origin’s demise and build something for players and fans to look forward to. The game is sold out, so the fans have spoken with their wallets. The best players in the country have committed to playing, so they’ve spoken with their commitment. Now it’s time to show them the respect they have earned throughout their brilliant careers, talk up what this game could be and get excited by what AFL Origin could become. It’s been way too long between drinks.