Dirty trick or just plain bad driving – either way NSW’s State of Origin campaign was left stranded on match eve.
Blues players were forced to scramble for taxis after their team bus became wedged on a kerb outside Suncorp Stadium as they left Tuesday’s captain’s run at the Origin venue.
The driver was reportedly left red-faced by the incident, which initially had some Blues players using muscle power in a bid to push the bus back onto some even ground.
They soon gave up as they hailed cabs back to the team hotel, much to the amusement of onlookers including Maroons coach Mal Meninga who was attending a nearby FOGs luncheon.
“That’s a good sign isn’t it – bit of an omen hopefully,” Meninga offered.
The Blues were reportedly more impressed with the stadium surface, which has been the subject of much scrutiny after cutting up badly in last Saturday night’s rugby union Test.
“We’re fortunate that (the weather’s) been fine since Saturday,” Suncorp Stadium general manager Alan Graham said.
“I spoke to (Blues coach) Laurie (Daley) after training and he said he’s heard all week how bad the field was.
“He said ‘I can’t see a problem, we’ve got no issues with it’.”