Close your eyes. Forget everything you know about the NRL and State of Origin. Now open them again and consider the Brisbane Broncos, who have won six in a row, being denied the use of their six best players and losing 28-10 to a Warriors outfit that lost four of their previous five. We know it's ridiculous but the really insane thing is that we have an answer, and we're employing it next year! One weekend Origin, with New Zealand playing England and other internationals, will eventually become three. The Kiwis and the English will get a full mid-season Test series. The ratings for the other games on the rep weekend underlined how much more attractive these Tests are - even to a parochial Australian audience - than depleted clubs schlepping around. But we're still sucking on that money teat, evolving at a glacial pace??? bloody frustrating.

Gallen's Valentine is a shepherd

It was the play that won the evening for Cronulla on Saturday but captain Paul Gallen says there might have been a bit of gamesmanship involved. First, the long-serving NSW skipper managed to drive the ball out of the in-goal and a couple of tackles later, Gerard Beale raced away to tie the game. "I think I might have got a bit of a shepherd off Val," Gallen told ABC radio, in reference to teammate Valentine Holmes. "That's how I managed to get out." Another Herculean Gallen run set up the decisive Chad Townsend field goal. Still on winger Holmes, coach Shane Flanagan said there was some schadenfreude involved in him dealing with his Origin I omission. "The non-selection of Billy Slater eased the pain for him a little bit," said Flanagan. "If he doesn't get selected ??? I know Val really looks up to Billy. Val will get on with it."

Gordie pitches in

'Tis the time of year for incendiary columns by former Maroons greats. Who can forget Wayne Bennett getting Greg Dowling to slag off his forwards in the Cairns Post every year? The internet has kind of ruined the tradition but not completely. In the Courier-Mail on the weekend, Gorden Tallis wrote: "If I was coach Kevvie Walters, I would be showing the team [video of] the moment when NSW turned their back on Cameron Smith last year. The Blues walked away while the Maroons skipper made his victory speech after Origin III. NSW disrespected Queensland ??? we all talk about the infamous hand grenade celebration from 2000 ??? NSW handed us another reason why Queensland need to win this year." Great stuff.

The oldest trick in the book ... the book most NRL clubs don't have

In the newspaper industry, it's an old maxim that if you print a lot of photos of kids, you'll sell a lot of copies to their parents. In the "soft" part of a soft NRL season for attendances, Cronulla adapted the principle to attract a crowd of 20,497 to their home game against Canterbury. The premiers asked parents in the area if their kids would like to be in a "dance spectacular" at half-time; Fox commentator Brett Kimmorley was one local parent who was contacted. Presumably a bit of peer pressure kicked in and parents accompanied their kids to Southern Cross Stadium, making it one of their biggest home crowds since 1967. Let's try to replicate this innovation elsewhere over the rest of the season, eh? All those empty seats are getting a tad depressing.

Remember the softening up period?

Thank the Lord. Kevin Walters has actually made a prediction about the ol' softening up period on Wednesday night. "I know everyone's looking forward to Dylan [Napa] getting out there and getting amongst it and mixing it up," the Queensland coach told Triple M. "But I'm sure there's a few of the NSW boys who've got the target on him as well. It's going to be an incredible start to the game, given the hype around it all, particularly with the size of the NSW pack." Aiden Guerra warned that baiting Napa may not be the best idea for the men in Blue. All of this is not outrageous in terms of Origin over 37 years - but a welcome respite from 2017's anodyne build-up. Meanwhile, according to Blue Wade Graham, Jake Trbojevic is joining the Aaron Woods-Dave Klemmer bromance axis. Let's hope they're teaching the youngster about the charms of the Screaming Jets.

Book 'em, Danno

In 2015, this column opposed Wests Tigers taking a post-season game to Honolulu, for two very straightforward reasons. One, Australian players had told Great Britain to stay home because they were entitled to the spring off - but now there was a jolly on offer things had changed. Two, there was the fact it was a jolly; memories of South Sydney's misadventures in Arizona were still quite fresh. But we are exploding with enthusiasm about the idea of a pre-season game against St George Illawarra at Aloha Stadium next year. All pre-season games should be played for a reason, preferably in areas where they can benefit the sport. The days of running around on suburban Sydney ovals making 50 interchanges in front of a crowd that gets in free should be long gone.