Rugby league talks up its ‘moments’. But in Origin, momentum wins games

June 27, 2026 — 1:30pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

The prevailing buzzword in rugby league today is “moments”, with players, coaches and the media focused on defining games in terms of a turning point try, tackle, a crucial penalty or sin-binning, implying the remainder of the game is of lesser importance.

“Moments” may well be a way of describing the NRL, but it is momentum which goes a long way to explaining why, in State of Origin football, the relationship between talent and victory over nearly 50 years is enduringly deceiving.

“We lost the big moments,” a NRL club coach or captain will say after a defeat.

The media use “moments” as convenient hooks upon which to hang the story of a match. Even Phil Gould, a natural media contrarian, occasionally talks moments.

Channel Nine streaming and broadcast boss, Amanda Laing, when announcing the network’s record ratings for the second State of Origin match at the MCG, proudly asserted the coverage brought “Australian together through moments that genuinely capture the national conversation.”

Yet Origin II was won not by moments, but by momentum. The two words derive from the same Latin root but describe different motions.

The Maroons won by building momentum until the Blues succumbed. Sure, NSW contributed to their own defeat by swinging the ball from side to........

© Brisbane Times