Our mind was brought this fact while watching Brisbane and North Queensland turn on another thriller at Suncorp Stadium this week.

The stats are there for anyone to see. Just four points separates them over their past six games, four have required more than 80 minutes to be decided and three have come down to a single point.

Rugby league has produced, and is indeed built on, rivalries and the Cowboys-Broncos symphony is the equal to any other one could mention. The argument can be made that it’s a surer bet for a thriller than State of Origin at present. 

What it does bring to mind is this columnist’s favourite sporting rivalry – bar none. If you haven’t heard of it already, go to YouTube now and type in: Gatti v Ward I.

If you don’t want to watch the entire fight add “round nine” at the end and watch what legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward hysterically labels “the round of the century”, in commentary.

This bout between Micky Ward (portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter) and Arturo Gatti is the first of three bouts between the two – Gatti won the the second two thrillers in one of the most celebrated trilogies in boxing history.

What’s remarkable is the fact there was a never even a title on the line. Ward was a journeymen fighter with 11 losses and Gatti was seen as a greatly faded former world champion but they were two rivals simply made for each other. Their rivalry took on a life of it’s own outside of world rankings, world titles and the politics that plague the sport. 

You can say the same thing about the Cowboys and Broncos. They did of course meet in 2015 with the premiership on the line but their rivalry is such that the two competition points have become an afterthought. We just want to watch 

They have no use for the modern coaching manual. They don’t wrestle, they don’t play structure, they don’t ‘get to their points on the field’, they take risks and, Like Gatti and Ward, they respect each other too much not to produce their absolute best.

All we can say is, bring on the next chapter.