As the Sydney Morning Herald put it in 2014: "Punch-ups and wild brawls ... had become part of the fabric of the State of Origin contest since its very inception."
Some predicted it would ruin the game. Spoiler alert, it hasn't.
On-field fights still happen occasionally even at that most professional level of rugby league, but attitudes to "the biff" are changing.
For proof, you only need to look at the damning response to an "all-out brawl" that broke out at a match between Taupō Phoenix and Forestland Falcons senior rugby league players in Tokoroa on Saturday.
Video of the incident shows the fighting started with jersey-pulling and shoving between players, before multiple fights broke out. Some spectators joined in as others egged brawlers on from the sidelines.
One person horrified by the incident was a fan who anonymously shared the video with the Rotorua Daily Post.
The father, who attended the game with his young son, was "stunned and appalled" by the violence, which he said left a trail of injured people.
He was especially disgusted by what he believed to be a coward punch to the side of an opposing player's head. One punch, he said, could be a killer.
"If this had happened a couple of hundred metres down the road at a local pub these people would be held accountable."
A judicial investigation by the district rugby league body is ongoing and officials have so far been tight-lipped on whether there will be any disciplinary action.
But former Warrior and current Tauranga family man/league ambassador Henry Fa'afili was quick to speak out against the incident.
He says the brawling is "totally unacceptable" and the sport didn't need it - especially not in front of children who looked up to the players and may dream of playing professionally themselves.
He is right to speak out, as was the anonymous spectator.
Bring back the biff might make an ironic T-shirt slogan for a certain nostalgic breed of rugby league fan, but any genuinely-held sentiment supporting all-out on-field fighting has no place in today's game, at any level of the sport.
If a bloke wants to punch his mate, he can take up boxing or MMA.
