BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

You might recall the name Jason Costigan as the voice of New Zealand Warriors matches of yesteryear – or at the very least his booming voice.

Costigan is now an MP in the Whitsundays electorate and is behind a new push for North Queensland to break away from the rest of the state and govern themselves.

And they want to call it… ‘Reef State’.

“We’re talking about having laws in place so we can have crocodiles controlled,” the leader of the North Queensland First Party told 2GB recently.

“We want to burn coal for cheaper electricity and we’re having people in Brisbane, a thousand kilometres away, telling us what to do.”

In 1908, New South Wales thrashed Queensland 43-0 in the first interstate match at the old Sydney Showground. The floggings continued until 1980 when State of Origin was born.

Today, Origin is one of Australia’s premier sporting events and a ratings behemoth.

But what the hell do we do if we have Queensland and ‘Reef State’?

Would Queensland play against Reef State?

Or would the Blues face them both in a tri-series?

According to nqstate.com.au, “the initiative to form a separate State in the north of Queensland goes back to the 1890s and the motions moved in the Queensland parliament by representatives from North and Central Queensland wanting to walk their own road.”

It seems like every year this thing gets rolled out but it would change Origin forever if it ever did get up.

A ‘Reef State’ team (at full strength) would boast a fair backline to go with the creative genius of young hooker Harry Grant but they are light-on in big men.

‘New Queensland’ have the opposite problem and have plenty of depth in the engine room but look desperately outclassed in the backs.

Making it worse for Queensland is that Daly Cherry-Evans is eligible for Reef State as he moved to Mackay when he was 12 so he could very easily slide into the opponent’s XVII.

We originally had Christian Welch on the bench for Queensland but we’ve slipped him into the starting pack for Reef State to give them a little more starch.

Welch was actually born in Sydney but spent time in Townsville and Gladstone before settling in Brisbane.

POSSIBLE ‘REEF STATE’ TEAM

1 Kalyn Ponga (Mackay)
2 Kyle Feldt (Townsville)
3 Dane Gagai (Mackay)
4 Cameron Munster (Rockhampton)
5 Valentine Holmes (Townsville)
6 Michael Morgan (Townsville)
7 Ben Hunt (Dingo)
8 Thomas Flegler (Townsville)
9 Harry Grant (Rockhampton)
10 Christian Welch (Brisbane)
11 Felise Kaufusi (Bundaberg)
12 Mitch Dunn (Mackay)
13 Coen Hess (Bundaberg)

14 Ethan Bullemor (Emerald)
15 Corey Oates (Biloela)
16 Corey Jensen (Townsville)
17 Darryn Schonig (Cooktown)

18 Kurt Mann (Winton)
19 Justin O’Neill (Townsville)
20 Enari Tuala (Cairns)
21 Gehamat Shibasaki (Townsville)

POSSIBLE ‘NEW QUEENSLAND’ TEAM

1 Corey Allan (Brisbane)
2 Hymel Hunt (Gold Coast)
3 Brenko Lee (Brisbane)
4 Xavier Coates (Gold Coast)
5 Edrick Lee (Brisbane)
6 AJ Brimson (Brisbane)
7 Daly Cherry-Evans (Redcliffe)
8 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Gympie)
9 Jake Friend (Nambour)
10 Josh Papalii (Logan)
11 Kurt Capewell (Charleville)
12 David Fifita (Brisbane)
13 Jai Arrow (Brisbane)

14 Moeaki Fotuaika (Brisbane)
15 Patrick Carrigan (Brisbane)
16 Lindsay Collins (Brisbane)
17 Josh McGuire (Brisbane)

18 Joe Ofahengaue (Ipswich)
19 Dylan Napa (Brisbane)
20 Jarrod Wallace (Gold Coast)
21 Dunamis Lui (Brisbane)

@woodward_curtis