EXCLUSIVE: Peter Sterling reveals how ignoring a 'young lady' resulted in his infamous banner fail
Former NSW Blues captain Peter Sterling has lifted the lid on his infamous State of Origin banner disaster, revealing he missed out on some crucial information just before the game.
Taking charge of the Blues in the absence of Wayne Pearce, Sterling led the side out on a historic occasion as rugby league powerbrokers attempted to grab a foothold of America, by hosting the match in Long Beach, California.
Sterling infamously attempted to charge through a banner as his side ran onto the field, but struggled to break through and hilariously shook his head once he managed to get on the field.
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Speaking on Nine's upcoming podcast Stories of Origin Series II, to be released on Monday May 1, the Parramatta Eels great said it was his inability to listen that set him up for disaster.
"So on the morning of the game, this young lady comes up to me and says, excuse me Peter, I'm here to tell you how to run through the banner," he recounted.
"Now I'm, yeah, look, I'm not big, I'm not strong, I'm not powerful. I'm not any of those kind of things, and I'm thinking crepe [paper] banner, I'm thinking I'll handle this, you know.
"And the boys are about to have some lunch and I fobbed her off. I should have listened."
Peter Sterling.
The hilarious moment wouldn't come until later in the night when both sides prepared to play in front of an American crowd, which Sterling described as "healthy", although the crowd number is still debated.
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Rest assured though, there were people all over the world ready to see the Blues run onto the field.
"So the game night came around and mate, you're saying five, I'm saying twenty five, let's settle on twelve thousand people," he said. "A nice healthy crowd."
"But more importantly, the game's being beamed back by satellite to Australia, to a million people. And my family and friends are going to be watching me lead the Blues for the first time.
"So I've got to the end of the tunnel. I've got the ball under the arm - and beautiful, balmy night on the west coast of America. And I'm feeling good, so I hit top pace and I hit the banner... and it was like a brick wall."
Unfortunately for Sterling, it was that crucial advice that he didn't take pre-game that came back to haunt him.
"The whole thing is held together by sticky tape. Except for this one little area, this corridor where the girl was going to tell me how to run through it. Now because it's like a spider's web, I'm halfway short, I can't go forward and I can't go back," he said.
"So I turned around and looked at the next in line and that was Royce Simmons. He looked back at me. Turned around again, looked at Royce. He looked back at me. I turned a third time, looked at Royce. He shrugged his shoulders and took the whole team around the banner.
"I missed the kick-off."
Last year we launched Stories of Origin the podcast by telling some of the greatest Origin stories with the icons of Australia's greatest sporting rivalry. In Season 2 we're focusing on memorable State of Origin performances and there could be no better way to launch this season than with Fatty and Sterlo. Stories of Origin the Podcast - Season 2 - available from Monday May 1 wherever you get your podcasts.
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