WA Sport Minister Rita Saffioti has posted a cheeky reminder of Basil Zempilas\u2019 past tweets ahead of the State of Origin on Saturday, four years after he claimed there was \u201cno appetite\u201d for the return of State of Origin footy.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s inclusion to the national AFL competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all loved it. We skipped school to go. We (were) so proud when we beat the Vics,\u201d Mr Zempilas\u2019 post said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the Eagles and Dockers came in. Australian Football has changed and the AFL has changed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat ship has sailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Saffioti captioned the her post on Friday, \u201cSold out crowd, activated city, and thousands of visitors \u2014 I\u2019m proud to have played a part sailing this ship!\u201d<\/p>\n
In amongst the political comments on the post, some Facebook users took the opportunity to take a cheeky jab at the Opposition leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take that on notice Rita,\u201d one user said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept receipts,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n
To Mr Zempilas\u2019 credit, he did give \u201ccredit where credit is due\u201d in his opinion piece for The West Australian<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n