By Wayne Heming

MAROON MANIA is set to sweep the far north Queensland city of Cairns tomorrow with up to 10,000 people expected to attend a historic fan day with the Queensland State of Origin players at Barlow Park.

Coach Billy Slater and his 19-man Maroon squad jetted north today for a mini-camp this week which will include a junior clinic, player autographs and picture opportunities, and a training run at the 16,000-seat capacity ground.

“Being school holidays a lot of communities are traveling from hundreds of kilometres to Cairns to get up close to their heroes,” said Barlow Park venue manager, Paul Barron.

“If the weather isn’t too bad, we should get between 5,000 and 10,000 for the day.

“We are a rugby league-mad region.

“We’ve got merchandise tents, food vendor stands, security, and some entertainment, so there’s a lot happening.

“The city is already at 90 percent occupancy with many southerners already here to escape the cold.”

Barron, who also runs his own events company, said having the Queensland Origin team visit the city was a big boost to the region which is pushing hard to be the base for the next team in any NRL expansion plans.

“It would be a Pacifica PNG side based here and I reckon we are the front-runner with Barlow Park, which is a multi-purpose sports facility, already approved for an upgrade to a rectangular ground.

“I know Perth, Darwin, and Tasmania are all on the list, but financially we are in a great position.

“It’s the number one game in north Queensland. Its history dates back over 100 years the birth of rugby league has been closely aligned with Cairns and Townsville.

Barron said Tuesday’s fan day would be one of the biggest events in Cairns’ history.

“The biggest event I’ve witnessed in my 10 years at Barlow Park was the Red Hot Summer Tour featuring Johnny Farnham, Darryl Braithwaite, and Vanessa Amorosi which pulled about 9,000,

“We get close to 9,000 when South Sydney plays a home game in Cairns, and they’ll be here this month to play the Dragons.”

The population of Cairns is tipped to double in the next 20 years.

“We really punch above our weight in sports tourism in general in Cairns,” said Barron.

“We have the best mountain track in the world, great iron man facilities and so much more to offer with a great climate.”

The Queensland team will head back to Brisbane on Wednesday after conducting a coaching clinic and a training session at Barlow Park tomorrow.