Manly player Daly Cherry Evans, spurned by Queensland fans since 2015 when he flipped on a deal with the Titans, had been selected in the Queensland team; the ongoing story about the love triangle between Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk had more twists than an episode of Love Island; could the Baby Blues under rookie coach Brad Fittler make a clean sweep of it?

Carnahan had no idea how his show might evolve once the final whistle had blown. For he loves changing up the show to reflect the current dramas on and off the field.

“I don't have to make up stories, I don't have to make up the narrative because it’s already happening,” he says.

“That’s kind of the whole show, it’s not a musical, what I contend is rugby league itself is the musical and I just put music to it.

“Rugby league is the Gilbert and I'm the Sullivan.”

Carnahan has been playing to packed audiences, in different incarnations for years. In 2006 he was asked to write a song for The Footy Show and over the years more of his songs were used, character Reg Reagan would sing a few, they’d be used to tribute retiring players, to take the mickey out of referees.

In 2014, he performed at the NRL referees presentation night, when he dressed up as retiring referee Shane Hayne and performed in character for the first time himself.

“There was such a good response from everyone, it was then that I thought I could turn the songs into a whole show,” he says.

The show, which is not just for rugby league fans, he says, is “a game of two halves”, two 40 minute sets, split by halftime rather than intermission.

“There’s even complementary halftime oranges at the bar,” he says.

The songs and dialogue are backed by video clips of players and games.

“The great Roy Masters wrote in an article in 2004 about the theatre of rugby league,” Carnahan says.

“The opening line was ‘rugby league is a pantomime’, that's where a lot of the ideas come from, complete with villains and heroes and I encourage boo-ing and cheering.”

So wouldn’t the delineation between heroes and villains depend on which side of the border the show is performed on? Carnahan admits that’s true.

“I don't want to give it all away but in this one Cameron Smith is a major villain,” he says.

“In some of the videos I’ve superimposed a nice vaudeville moustache on him which he twirls. It looks so natural, the grin, the mischievous look, put a top hat and moustache on Smith and he carves it up as a pantomime villain.”

Has Carnahan ever had any negative feedback from the players he features?

“For the most part it’s good fun,” he says.

“When I first did That's in Queensland [a parody of Origin selection policies that went viral on Youtube] I did a second version of it in 2012 when Ben Te'o got selected.

“He was a rugby league mercenary, he was born in New Zealand, his father is Samoan, his mother was English, he was recruited to play league by Keebra Park High on the Gold Coast but he was a Kiwi junior international, he played Origin for Queensland and now he’s in England playing rugby union where he got picked to the England international team in 2017. Still following me?

“But anyway, there was a version with him in the first verse and apparently it was shown to him and [then coach] Mal Meninga at a press conference and they were both filthy.

“If you listen to some stories it was that song that helped get the selection policy changed, but I can’t take credit for that.

“And who would want to upset Mal, I would never want to do that, for many reasons, I love and respect him for what he did for my Raiders, and now he’s using that song as a theme for his show Queenslanders Only on Fox Sports so I feel safe.”

Carnahan is actually a born and bred Canberran. He lives in Sydney now but attended Ainslie Primary School, Campbell High and Dickson College. He still has family here. He never played rugby league, but was "consistently dreadful" playing rugby union, soccer, cricket and hockey.

“I’m a Raiders fan through and through though,” he says. "I bleed green.

"I started out doing this for a bit of fun. I wanted to be a serious musician, I was playing in serious bands, writing earnest songs, but I'm enjoying this way too much."

Rugby League the Musical is playing at The Street Theatre on July 29. Tickets $35.