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THE State of Origin love in was going exactly to script in Melbourne until a senior member of the Victorian parliament called Queensland's State of Origin team the Reds ... twice.
Parliamentary secretary for major events Danielle Green referred to the Maroons as the Reds while launching State of Origin's return to the MCG this year.
The gaffe forced captain Cameron Smith to playfully shut down talk of a shock code switch.
The unfortunate aspect of Green's comment is Melburnians are actually snapping up tickets for Origin's return to the MCG fast with close to 90,000 fans expected for the Game Two event.
Green even talked up the prospect of a 100,000-strong crowd. Even 90,000 would be one of the highest attendances in the history of Origin, an annual event that is now the most watched sporting contest in Australia.
Green was a late call up to the announcement at Eureka Tower in Melbourne and people felt for her as she called the code rugby while seemingly anticipating Quade Cooper will be playing on the June 17 match.
Despite the presence of the Storm in Melbourne since 1998 Victorians have form in not knowing much about Origin.
Green's foot in mouth moment comes three years after former Victorian sports minister Hugh Delahunty said the epic series was played between Queensland and New Zealand.
"All rugby league supporters here today, it's fantastic as Minister of Sport to welcome you here to this very special game, the first game of the Queensland versus New Zealand ... New Zealand, that's a good start ... Queensland versus New South Wales in the State of the Origin match," Delahunty said in 2012.
He also referred to the Blues captain as "Paul Callen".
That comment prompted Matt Johns to declare Victoria didn't deserve Origin
.
"I've always fought for Melbourne saying they're entitled to State of Origin but I've swung the other way. Here we are, first State Of Origin game of the year, and compared to how big it is in QLD, we're basically sending it to Siberia. It is wrong," he said.
The Victorian Government are major supporters of the Origin concept, paying a sizeable fee for one game every three years.
They make their money back and then some via the amount of Queensland and New South Wales fans who travel to Melbourne for the event.
The Campbell Newman Queensland Government did not want to pay anything for Origin, ensuring the NRL took the occasional game to Victoria rather than have a guaranteed two games in Brisbane every second year.
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