What I’m about to reveal is pretty embarrassing. It’s akin to a theatre reviewer admitting they have never seen My Fair Lady or Cats.

I’m possibly the only sports journalist in Queensland or New South Wales who has never been to a State of Origin match (pause here so you can shake your head and laugh).

But come 20:00 hours tonight, I will take my place with the rest of the ‘redneck nutbags’ at Suncorp Stadium, baying for Blue blood.

My status as an Origin virgin is even more shameful when the token Pom in our office, who will be accompanying me to the game, yesterday revealed he has watched no less than THREE Origin matches live from the ground.

This is from a bloke from balmy Bath in England, one of the biggest rugby union cities in Europe. He reckons if you asked someone from Bath to name just one league team, they would struggle to get the job done more than an unsupervised council worker.

He even has a Maroons jersey that he plans to dust off and wear to the game tonight.

The Daily’s resident ‘geezer’ actually used the word “appalling” when I made my shocking revelation.

When Tony Archer blows that first shriek of his whistle tonight and the Steeden is booted downfield, it will be like a massive weight being removed from my shoulders.

However, before the letter bombs start rolling in, I do have a few excuses why I haven’t been to an Origin game as yet.

Excuse #1: I’m a Canberra supporter. The last time a Raiders player was picked in an Origin side, the Rolling Stones were being raved about as the next big thing and Sarah Jessica Parker was actually hot. That’s a LOONG time ago.

Excuse #2: I was born in Tasmania. Bathonians (I don’t think that’s a real term; I considered using ‘Bathers’, but English people don’t like to wash that much) may not know much about league, but their knowledge of the great game is ‘Rabbits’ Warren-esque compared to the Apple Islanders. An AFL boundary umpire would get noticed quicker if he walked down the main street of Hobart than Mal Meninga.

Excuse #3: The last time I stocked up on alcohol for a night watching Origin on the couch, I didn’t have to fork out $12.50 for a light beer like you have to at the ground.

Excuse #4: I’m just very, very lazy.

But while the above does hold some water, there really is no excuse for my current plight. I know that. And I plan to make up for some lost Origin living by cramming as much into tonight as possible.

I’m going to call Willie Mason something so offensive, it would make Chopper Reed and Gordon Ramsay blush. I’m going to ‘accidentally’ spill beer on a Blues supporter. I’m going to hug and kiss the absolute stranger beside me whenever the Maroons score (disclaimer: unless it’s some fat bloke with pie and sauce dribbling down the front of his shirt).

And when I make the drive home back to the Coast, I will finally know what it’s like to experience first hand the exhilaration of a Maroons’ win, or the crushing pain of the shield going south of the border.