'Came at me like a bull': How icons buried the hatchet after famous State of Origin brawl

The AFL is set to revive State of Origin on Saturday, but it's hard to imagine the game replicating the spite and animosity that became synonymous with it in the 1980s and 1990s.

One of the most iconic and memorable moments from that came in 1988, when Victoria's Greg Williams and South Australia's Garry McIntosh brawled in what quickly became one of the ugliest moments of the era.

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The match was a pre-season battle at the Adelaide Bicentennial Carnival, with South Australia belting Victoria in the final match of the weekend.

McIntosh, who played 336 career games for Norwood in the SANFL, was one of the state's stars of the 1980s.

He won two premierships, two best and fairests and was given the difficult role of tagging 'Diesel' Williams in this State of Origin clash.

But things got ugly in the second quarter, after Diesel punched McIntosh in the face, causing him to lose a tooth and sparking an all-in melee.

The pair exchanged blows on the ground before eventually being separated.

Re-living the incident, Williams said legendary Victorian coach E.J Whitten sparked him into throwing the first punch.

"He was tagging me on that day and when you look at him, seriously, he looked like he came out of the jungle. He had a beard and long hair and he was rough as guts," Williams told SEN.

"And he was doing a good job (tagging me) in the first quarter and I remember we went into the huddle at quarter time and E.J said to me 'get rid of him'.

"I said 'what do you mean?'. 'Just get rid of him Diesel, just get rid of him'.

"And when Ted says something, you just do what he says."

Williams admitted that he feared for his life when McIntosh retaliated.

"First bounce of the second quarter I turned around and I punched him in the mouth and knocked his front tooth out," he said.

"He came at me like a bull. He nearly killed me after that.

"That's just what I did. I don't know why I did it other than because Ted told me to. That's what happened."

McIntosh smiled and pointed to the gap in his mouth where his tooth was missing in the aftermath.

Years later, the pair buried the hatchet, but the incident lived on in each other's minds.

"Ten years later I was on a golf trip with Stephen Kernahan and Craig Bradley and them and McIntosh came into the pub after we'd played golf," Williams said.

"And he's walking towards me and he took his front tooth out and put it on the bar and said 'you better buy me a drink'.

"And he said 'every morning when I clean my teeth I think of you'."

Former Essendon captain Tim Watson was right there in the middle of the unfolding fracas and remembers it vividly.

"I had a ringside seat to that clash and I tell you what, I thought (Williams) covered up really well," Watson said.

"He looked a bit nasty McIntosh, he was like a thrashing machine on Diesel."

State of Origin was revered, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, as one of the top achievements in the sport for a player.

Williams received the honour of captaining Victoria one year after the incident in 1989, and remembers it as one of the greatest moments of his career.

"One of the great things I remember is E.J coming up to me and saying 'you're going to captain Victoria'," he said.

"That was as big a thing as you could get in footy.

"That was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I was lucky enough to captain the 'big V'."

Williams ultimately played 250 games across his career for Geelong, Sydney and Carlton, winning two Brownlow Medals and playing in the Blues' 1995 premiership side. He represented Victoria on nine occasions.

McIntosh played his whole career in the SANFL, never making the move across to the VFL/AFL world.

He was nominated for induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2021, but declined stating he "did not play the game for personal honours".