It’s 2011: Round 6. The Eels are hosting the Bulldogs at the former Olympic stadium. Minutes before halftime, ‘Dogs hooker Michael Ennis lays a cheeky shoulder into Eels backrower Nathan Hindmarsh in back play. Shortly after, Ennis grabs Hindmarsh off the back of then-Dogs fullback Ben Barba in a ruck. Ennis and Hindmarsh then jog alongside each other, following the play, before Hindmarsh suddenly turns around and strikes at Ennis!

A minute later the players are sitting in their respective sheds after being marched for ten by referee Ashley Klein. The seemingly unflappable Hindmarsh would later call Ennis a “grub” at the post-match presser … and another lifelong rugby league feud is born. Or is it?

Last year Hindmarsh and former Rabbitoh and Rooster Bryan Fletcher interviewed Ennis about the incident for their Fletch And Hindy segment for Monday Night With Matty Johns. By then all was good, with Ennis even quipping: “It was a Friday night game … I woke up on Saturday morning with an awful scratch …”

Going back further, as serious and intimidating as the legendary caller Rex Mossop appeared, there was still plenty of room during Controversy Corner throughout the 1970s and ‘80s for a laugh. And so on during The Footy Show’s long history …

Wherever there’s rugby league, there’s humour. It’s almost mandatory that you go out there, bruise each other, then have a laugh. So what’s it all about? After all, boxers, for instance, are rarely seen sharing a giggle in the sheds after destroying each other across 12 rounds …

“I think it’s a working-class thing,” offers Fox Sports presenter Matty Johns. “Traditionally, rugby league is a working man’s game. If you look at the demographics of where the game comes from … my great grandfather was a coal-miner, my grandfather was a coalminer and my father was a coalminer,” the Newcastle Knights and later Cronulla and Wigan five-eighth shared with Inside Sport during the mag’s recent behind-the-scenes visit to Fox Sports HQ in Sydney. We’d been invited there to watch the filming of Friday Night Footy On Fox, but the 220-gamer also anchors the popular Monday Night with Matty Johns, which follows Fox’s screening of the NRL’s Monday night fixture. He’s also a vital ingredient of radio station Triple M’s The Grill Team morning show.

“Joey and I were the first ones to break that chain in our family, and we were lucky enough to do it. When I was still at school I’d go down the mines, very occasionally, and just go check it out; do a shift with the old man,” the former Country, NSW and Australia rep shared.

“A hard job, mate. You’re down there, hats on, you’re working down a pit, but the thing that gets them through is they’re well-humoured; they have a good laugh.

“I think it’s just a working-class thing. Same as when I played in the north of England at Wigan; that real iconic, British humour. All the blokes I played with over there were really funny bastards. Like Brian Carney, who is my best mate. Typical Irishman, really funny.

“Being involved in football teams is a good grounding for television - this sort’ve stuff. You operate as a team, but you learn how to form chemistry. If you have chemistry, shows like ours fly.”