Joe Gorman delivered the 22nd Annual Tom Brock Lecture

DATE: Monday 9th November 2020
TIME: 6.30 – 8pm
VENUE: Zoom Webinar
SPEAKER: Joe Gorman
TOPIC: 40 years of State of Origin: The past, present and future of rugby league’s showpiece event

The Event

An address by Joe Gorman, a former Tom Brock Scholar and author of the prize-winning book, Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland (30 minutes).

A panel discussion will address the issues raised by Joe Gorman, providing a NSW perspective on Origin and comment on the new Origin format and its likely future. The panel might also reflect how Origin might evolve over the next 40 years (30 minutes).

Response from the audience (via a presenter) (30 Minutes)

Abstract

Forty years ago, in the inaugural State of Origin match, Arthur Beetson ran on to Lang Park in Brisbane and led Queensland to a famous victory over New South Wales. Since then, Origin has grown from an experimental exhibition game to an unstoppable cultural and commercial juggernaut. In this Tom Brock Lecture, journalist and author Joe Gorman explains how Origin changed rugby league, and charts possibilities for its future. 

Speaker biography

Joe Gorman is an independent journalist, author and the 2019 Tom Brock Scholar. His most recent book, Heartland: How Rugby League Explains Queensland, won the 2020 Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance.

The panel

Terry Williams (chair), David Trodden, chief executive of the NSWRL and a former Origin player.