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The dust has settled on an enthralling State of Origin series and for just the third time, New South Wales won a decider at Lang Park, punctuated by a skirmish late in the first half. All your favourites were involved; Jarome Luai, Daly Cherry-Evans, Jeremiah Nanai and a host of supporting characters - most notably Cam Murray and Haumole Olakau'atu - the former not on the field at the time, and the latter not in the game day squad. Regardless of your affiliations, everyone was on their feet when Luai and Cherry-Evans came together, and joined in the hooting and hollering when the action spread to involve a litany of other stars. It was an engrossing moment in an engrossing game as the Blues went on to win, and both Murray and Olakau'atu were slapped with two-game suspensions in the aftermath, a complete betrayal of everything that State of Origin stands for.  The entire concept of Origin is built on the mythos of doing anything for the bloke next to you, mate against mate, never taking a backwards step - to romanticise that for decades only to then be extremely punitive towards two players for taking all of those tropes on board and acting on them seems inconsistent and unfair. Yes, Murray perhaps should have been sent off, but the bunker decided to show some leniency for what was, really, a storm in a teacup, with no punches thrown. While most people have continued to debate the merits of suspending either, and whether what they did was honourable, stupid, or both, you'll hear an annoying voice clear their throat; it's 'The Rules Knower', quick to inform you that you simply cannot get involved in a scuffle while you're off the field, as though that's the bit everyone else is confused about. Of course, the The Rules Knowers have no room for nuance or context, no time to waste on situational awareness. The facts are clear; Cameron Murray was off the field and joined in a brawl, therefore he must be punished. Nevermind the fact that the melee he joined also took place off the field, with several on field players passing that sacred white line to get involved, or that Murray was mere metres away as one of his teammates was being jumped by nine or so opponents. That's irrelevant! We have rules, and they must be followed. After all, children are watching. Sure, today it's one of the nicest guys in the sport coming to the aid of his fellow Blues player, but tomorrow? It's fans running onto the field to assault referees. It's a slippery slope. And we do have to set an example to the kids, which is why Jeremiah Nanai, whose involvement escalated the situation to boiling point, was only fined, and Daly Cherry-Evans, who started the whole thing, wasn't cited at all.  Nobody is debating that the actions of Murray or Olakau'atu fell foul of The Rules, but would you have wanted them to stand idly by while their teammates were set upon? This incident is something that will be replayed in future seasons and will see both players held in high regard from fans of their state - in the same way that a defiant Reece Walsh saluted Lang Park after being sent off in 2023. That was also outside The Rules, but it was awesome. It's unlikely either NSW player will ever find themselves in a similar situation again. Murray was sin binned, forcing the Blues to remove one of their active players from the field, and Olakau'atu was banished to the bowels of the stadium, like the cheeky kid who has to stay in and write lines at recess. Both of those things were punishments, and also objectively quite funny - along with some post-game fines, it could have been left there. There was no need for heavy-handed deterrents, because the likelihood that this could ever happen again is extremely low. If either player had thrown a punch, choked someone, or even did exactly what they did but on the other side of that magical white line, it'd be a different story. The reality is that not all rule infringements are the same. Murray and Olakau'atu's behaviour was not in any way comparable to incidents like Malice at the Palace, the Uruguayan football team last week, or any past instances of players entering the field of play without permission. It's especially different when you consider how unique Origin is on the sporting landscape. No other sport disrupts its top league for ten weeks a year in the way that the NRL does, so of course it's not the same when something like this happens in that arena. But what's done is done. For Souths fans, the team's slow start to the season means they were almost certainly not making the finals anyway, which is the only softening blow as they lose their captain for two weeks, after having missed so much of the campaign already. But what about Manly? The Sea Eagles are right in the thick of the top eight hunt and now lose their best forward for two key games, for an incident that occurred while he was representing an entirely different team in a different competition, and could and should have been left as part of an incredible Wednesday night. At least they still have Cherry-Evans.
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