Dermott Brereton: AFL legend risks the wrath of footy fans by pinpointing why State of Origin is better than Aussie Rules
- Dermott Brereton details why he loves rugby league
- Says he would have loved to have played rival code
- Brereton won five premierships with Hawthorn
In a move guaranteed to upset AFL diehards, Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton has heaped rugby league as he described the game as more brutal than Aussie Rules footy.
The State of Origin series heads to Melbourne on Wednesday night with a crowd of 90,000 expected to watch at the MCG.
Brereton, a five-time premiership winner who played 211 AFL games, this week joined NRL legends Laurie Daley and Mal Meninga to recreate the cover of the 1994 match program in which the Origin captains were hanging out of a tram driven by the AFL star.
'I think it's the most brutal sport in the world, because it's so constant and for its sheer brutality,' Brereton said.
'If I was that competitive beast, I would love to play it and probably would have loved to have played it.
Dermott Brereton (pictured) has praised State of Origin footy as he explained why it's so popular in Melbourne despite the city being Aussie Rules heartland
Brereton says State of Origin is the most brutal sporting contest on the planet - and incidents like Joseph Sua'ali'i's illegal knockout hit on Reece Walsh (pictured) back him up
'Rugby league is an incredibly physical, brutal sport and it's tremendously honest where you somehow, some way have to get past the guys on the other side. That's what I find wonderful about the sport.
'AFL is dangerous because contact can come from anywhere but the dangerous contact happens infrequently, where rugby league is just gruelling. The pounding they put on the opposition is extreme.
'Rugby league has immediate contact. It gives an opportunity for people to go along and see from the first whistle somebody run into the other and it's an immediate contest.
'To have someone oppose and stand in front of you, face you, and you have to charge into their shirtfront, that's brutal.
'AFL starts the ball in dispute, it gets tapped to somebody, they might or might not get touched, they kick it to somebody else who might or might not get tackled, depending on the strain of the game.
'When you watch rugby league, there is physical action from the very get-go.
'That's a tremendously brutal and honest way to start your game of sport. That's one thing they have over us. There's a great honesty in the way it's formed, shaped and played.
'State of Origin is the best rugby league football you will see in the world. We love our sport in Melbourne, it's just awesome.
'And in State of Origin, you get the chance to belong to a team in the best sporting fixture of its type in the world.'
With the exception of the COVID-impacted 2021 season, State of Origin has been played in Victoria every three years since 2006.
Brereton says rugby league has a physical element from the get-go that might not always feature in Aussie Rules
Brereton (pictured centre with NRL legends Laurie Daley, left, and Mal Meninga, right) believes rugby league is a brutal and tremendously honest sport - and says he would love to have played the game
Brereton says Victorian understand how great the Origin spectacle is.
'Melbourne people love seeing a great contest and if you tell us, we recognise it, we understand and see the evidence that this is, in rugby league terms, the world's best football, then we will watch it,' he said.
NSW must win game two in Melbourne to keep the series alive - with the Blues last lifting the interstate trophy in 2021.
