NRL on Nine

Television Nine Network
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State of Origin game 1

One of the most thrilling and enduring rivalries in all of sport writes another chapter in its 40th year when Game 1 of State of Origin is broadcast EXCLUSIVELY LIVE on Nine and 9Now from 7.00pm AEDT this Wednesday night.

Nothing matches the passion and excitement of Origin, the most watched program across all networks in Australia for the past three years: the ultimate the State versus State, mate versus mate showdown.

The TODAY Show’s Karl Stefanovic will be on board for all three games, co-hosting alongside James Bracey in an effort to balance the scales and cheer his beloved Maroons to victory, with the famous tones of Ray Warren calling the action.

Broadcasting from a COVID-safe, sold-out Adelaide Oval for the very first time, State of Origin continues to expand its national footprint, proving once again to be the real must-see sporting event that captures the attention of the nation.

Wednesday night’s coverage will begin by transporting viewers back in time to the famous Lang Park in 1980, the scene of the first State of Origin 40 years ago. Using the latest in broadcast technology, Queensland great Chris “Choppy” Close, man of the match in that game, will give us a walk-through on the sacred turf and retell his experience of the clash that created a phenomenon.

Iconic sport-loving Australian comedy duo Roy and HG have joined Wide World of Sports for the 2020 State of Origin series to deliver a hilarious and impassioned special segment for all three games and fire up viewers in a way that only they can, revisiting their greatest memories in the 40-year history of the series.

Former tennis world No.1 and proud South Australian Lleyton Hewitt alsojoins the broadcast to pay homage to the great Adelaide Oval, which has hosted everything from cricket test matches to Rolling Stones concerts.

On Wednesday night, Wide World of Sports will announce the best New South Wales and Queensland teams of the past four decades as voted by the fans who have cast their votes at wwos.com.au over the last month.

With both sides fielding debutants, predicting a winner for Game 1 is anyone’s guess. While Queensland go in as underdogs, history has proven it is a title they relish and thrive under.

NSW coach Brad Fittler will be looking to make it three series wins in a row to make up for the pain the Queenslanders have inflicted in the past, while the returning master Wayne Bennett will be scheming to return the Maroons to their winning ways.

With classy Australian halves Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans playingbehinda monster forwardpack led by Josh Papalii, the Maroons are definitely capable of an upset. They will be matched by Nathan Cleary,fresh froman incredible NRL season, and Luke Keary, who makes his long-awaited Origin debut.

Viewers will have the option to stream the game live on 9Now and also view four supplementary streams to enhance the action. Two streams will focus purely on the coaches and the other two on star players James Tedesco and Cameron Munster.

STATE OF ORIGIN GAME 1 – LIVE from Adelaide Oval – Wednesday, November 4

Hosts and commentators across broadcast, digital and social include James Bracey, Karl Stefanovic, Danika Mason, Ray Warren, Phil Gould, Andrew Johns, Peter Sterling, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer, Wally Lewis, Paul Gallen and Sam Thaiday.

Sydney 7.00pm LIVE on Nine
Brisbane 6.00pm LIVE on Nine
Melbourne 7.00pm LIVE on Nine
Adelaide 6:30pm LIVE on Nine
Perth 4.00pm LIVE on Nine

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This will get people angry again…

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People were angry over perceived bias towards the Panthers during the Grand Final, where he is also General Manager.

No such issue here with Origin.

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Gus has coached the Blues in the past though, so it wouldn’t overly surprise me if there’s some bias towards NSW in his Origin commentary on Nine…

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Gould is also good for an anti-NSW bias, especially between 2010 and 2015.

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Imagine being James Bracey, who has been a great pick-up for Nine, anchoring their coverage superbly on all fronts since Yvonne Sampson moved to Fox (who I really rate as well) and getting told by your bosses, “Hey that bloke we got rid of on Today 18 months ago is going to co-host the coverage with you.” What a farce of a network. It’s no wonder their coverage is more and more reviled.

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Nine were idiots letting Yvvone go almost four years ago. They’re lucky to still have the service of her husband at the network, some of Chris O’Keefe’s reporting on Nine News is almost at ABC levels of quality. Anyway, where was I…

Karl Stefanovic commentating State of Origin makes as much sense as Michael Slater co-hosting The NRL Footy Show!

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Nine should’ve kept her at all costs. Her and Bracey would make a formidable duo for State of Origin (but they both work well solo too).

Karl Stefanovic on the other hand, he should probably stick to breakfast TV. I know he’s been fairly reserved so far this year but I have a feeling (based on his previous records) we’re going to see quite a bit of Queensland bias coming from the bloke on SOO, which would only be good for balancing the bias of Gus Gould and nothing more.

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I wonder if this year’s special November back-to-back-to-back SOOs will out-rate this:

Would require quite something I’d imagine!

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I was getting my hopes up thinking that Roy & H.G would once again be commentating on the origin.

I’ve looked around - but I fear they are not and we have to put up with the normal shit from nine.

can anyone confirm?

EDIT - I mean - an alternate commentary on 9 now

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Karl Stefanovic introduces to this year’s State of Origin series from Adelaide Oval.

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The Nine Team setting up at the oval.

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Watching the game on alternate feed. However I had to put up with Gus and ray in commentary in the stream.

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Good game at Adelaide oval tonight.

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Can Phil Gould commentate the game instead of talking about the Adelaide oval scoreboard five hundred fucking times.

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Listening to the This Week in League commentary. Much better than Gould.

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At 7:40pm, Nine Perth cut off the 2nd half post match coverage to head to Nine news Perth.

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That must have been awkward for Karl to interview Wayne Bennett when he blocked him from getting access for his Netflix doco.

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Didn’t see much of the pre or post game but I did see Karl’s build-up interview with Wayne Bennett and it actually got Wayne to open up much more than I’ve seen him do in pre-game interviews before so while I criticised it a couple of days ago, credit to Karl there.

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That was really disrespectful to local Indigenous people.
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That’d be Nine all over for you.

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