Most Rugby league fans in Australia put the State of Origin Series above international matches. No clubs complain about the disruption the series causes when some of them lose many players and the team's form slumps. Not a whisper. Mention an international game or series and complaints about pre-season training being affected has clubs complaining.
The competition started back in 1980, when it was decided that where a player hailed from should determine which state he represented rather than where he played. The first two series were one match affairs, both surprisingly won by the Queensland side. In fact, they went on the take the first five series!
After that, it became more even except between 2006 to 2013 inclusive. Two drawn series were given to Queensland as the incumbent holder of the trophy. I haven't done it that way. To me, those two were shared. So statistically, can we break it down to get a better picture?
Series: Qld 26 (58%) NSW 17 (38%) Drawn 2 (4%).
Wins: Qld 70 (53%) NSW 59 (45%) Drawn 2 (2%).
Points: Qld 2,174 (50.4%) NSW 2,138 (49.6%).
The fact that the points scored are about even shows that Queensland has been better at converting tight games into victories.
There were also two Super League SOO games and one exhibition game played in the USA. These are not included in the data above but are listed at the bottom of the sheet as an addendum.
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