WA Sport Minister Rita Saffioti has posted a cheeky reminder of Basil Zempilas’ past tweets ahead of the State of Origin on Saturday, four years after he claimed there was “no appetite” for the return of State of Origin footy.
Ms Saffioti posted a screenshot of a social media post by Mr Zempilas in 2021, where he appears to have claimed the State of Origin format was dead in the water since WA’s inclusion to the national AFL competition.
“We all loved it. We skipped school to go. We (were) so proud when we beat the Vics,” Mr Zempilas’ post said.
“Then the Eagles and Dockers came in. Australian Football has changed and the AFL has changed it.
“That ship has sailed.”
Ms Saffioti captioned the her post on Friday, “Sold out crowd, activated city, and thousands of visitors — I’m proud to have played a part sailing this ship!”
In amongst the political comments on the post, some Facebook users took the opportunity to take a cheeky jab at the Opposition leader.
“I’ll take that on notice Rita,” one user said.
“She kept receipts,” another said.
To Mr Zempilas’ credit, he did give “credit where credit is due” in his opinion piece for The West Australian earlier this week.
“The State Government have played a leading role driving the resurgence of State of Origin football and tomorrow night we get to see it roar back to life at Optus Stadium,” Mr Zempilas said.
“Congratulations to everyone involved and in particular the players for making the ultimate commitment to this fresh start for an old favourite.”
