Mark Williams is coaching the Dream Team and has been arcing things up in his own special – and typical – way. And serial whacky ideas man Kevin Sheedy has been doing likewise from the Victorian side.
Dream Team assistant coach Tony Micale is no stranger to the big time -– a multi-WAFL premiership winning coach and assistant at 2006 premiers West Coast -– but said he was rapt to be involved.
"It's sensational, it's just a great thing to be involved with, especially from my point of view, where I've come from," he said.
"It's unbelievable to be involved with this group of people and players, you know?"
With State of Origin currently hibernating, Micale said the Hall of Fame match was a great replacement.
"I don't know whether it's better -– I think that State of Origin, you can't ever kill from where you've come from –- but I think what's really good is that it's been really strict on player availability, and I've got no doubt that we've got the best 50 players available, that are fit at this time."
State of Origin was always dogged by stories of players faking injury to miss the match in order to preserve themselves for their clubs, but Micale said he was amazed at how much the players were embracing the concept.
"You hear stories about players throwing injuries to get out of State of Origin, but from the inside here, it's incredible how desperate the players are to get a game. Just astounding."
