Former New South Wales playmaker Matty Johns believes having a “few drinks” can help comradery when squads first arrive in Origin camps.
While drinking stories in Origin camps of yesteryear often detailed large social nights out, Johns believes there’s still a place for getting together and sharing a drink in today’s professional environment.
Referencing his time with the Blues in the late 90s, Johns believes that sharing a few social drinks with your new state teammates can help relax everyone and form closer bonds.
“I don’t want to sound like a dinosaur here, but I will,” Johns said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“There’s one thing to have a few drinks and there’s another to get to a point where you fall over drunk and all of that.
“Having a few drinks relaxes everybody, the guard drops, it really does, it helps with the comradery.
“Particularly if you’ve got a lot of young guys going into camp. If it’s your first time going in, it’s terrifying.
“It’s like your first day of school, you walk in there, there’s a number of guys around you who you hero-worshipped three or four years ago.
“If you have a couple of drinks all the tension just melts away a little bit.”
As a key figure of New South Wales’ set-up, Blues assistant Greg Alexander agreed with Johns’ take, adding that the Game I squad got together last week to share some drinks on a Sydney Harbour boat ride.
“Just on the bonding, I totally agree with what Matt said,” Alexander said.
“A couple of beers, you don’t have to get rolling drunk, no one does these days.
“But a couple of beers does loosen everyone up and I think it helps, there’s no doubt it does.
“On Tuesday night we went on a boat and it was just the team, we went around the (Sydney) Harbour for just a few hours and it was good, it was important and it always has been an important part of Origin.
“It’s changed how it works over the years … in this stage of COVID and how teams have been locked away, there’s been no interaction with anyone but yourselves.
“It’s a pretty important thing.”
Both teams are finalising their preparation for State of Origin Game I which is set for Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Wednesday night.
Photo: NSWRL website