Dolly Parton's most famous quote is: "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb . . . and I also know that I'm not blonde."
She repeated it during a show last week in Melbourne which Storm coach Craig Bellamy and myself - minus the cowboy boots and pink Dolly stetsons - attended.
Afterwards, we agreed Dolly's take on dumb blonde jokes is akin to rugby league.
We know rugby league people aren't dumb but we also know this is the perception supporters of rival codes have of us.
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A favourite quip in AFL-obsessed Mellbourne is: "I've watched rugby league a few times and admit I don't understand the fine points. Until I discovered there are no fine points."
I've laughed along with the rest but it's a defence mechanism response, the alternative being to act negatively and therefore validate their opinion of us as thoughtless thugs.
The code's critics sledge NRL as lacking subtlety, likening the players to moronic bison.
Yet, out there on the field, there is a rhythm among the bruise.
The so-called bull-like charges around the ruck by the front row forwards are planned. There is deception and design in every step.
Halves are forever counting heads, their minds taking instant photos of opposition alignments, seeking to take the ball to the side short in defenders, or offering the best opportunity to capitalise on a strength.
The game's critics do grudgingly concede the skills of the outside backs, such as Billy Slater.
Yet when Israel Folau, who began his football life in league, was an instant success in rugby union, Super Rugby coaches persisted in talking about how much more he has to learn, as if understanding the nuances of the 15-a-side game is on a par with quantum physics.
Benji Marshall, who left Wests Tigers after more than a decade to join a New Zealand Super Rugby team, was recently quoted as saying he found playing rugby union a massive adjustment, indicating he had to learn new places to stand and new ways to pass the ball.
I suspect some of this is a form of cultural cringe, designed to please and validate his new bosses.
This is when, like Dolly, we pull on a blonde wig, and masquerade as something we are not.
Rugby league is especially guilty of this when it seeks to align itself with the top end of town.
There has been an explosion in numbers of staff at NRL headquarters and an equally parabolic rise in new positions at the NSWRL.
Some of these appointments are long overdue. Former media boss John Brady also doubled as the NRL Drugs Control Officer, a ridiculous demand on his time, as well as being a blazing conflict of interest.
Yes, the players forced the NRL to beef up its integrity division, particularly after five were charged in the off-season with drink driving and assault.
(Based on the number of times I was reminded of this in the off-season, AFL supporters keep a league table of "atrocities" by players of each code).
But if the NRL is getting itself into an arms race with the AFL, boasting who has the bigger administration, rugby league will lose.
The AFL is considering installing an "integrity officer" with every team - effectively a copper in the clubhouse.
If the NRL wishes to go down this path, it will be costly, as well as a potentially alien cultural fit.
Pretending to be something you are not is an expensive exercise.
Dolly admitted as much, patting her fake breasts, saying, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."
Sometimes, rugby league pushes the "blonde" too much.
TV networks promote the punch-ups and players go out of their way in interviews to speak a form of contrived, self-diminishing poor grammar.
Clubs encourage bad boy stories at their heritage nights.
Perhaps there is a 'give a dog a bad name' in the modern mindset.
Yet the modern rugby league player is, as 68-year-old Dolly said of herself, "bad enough not to be good but too good to be real bad."
If the NRL's expensive makeover is designed to change the dumb blonde perception of the code, some of us are comfortable with the honesty of Dolly.
After all, while many of her 3000 songs reflect her Tennessee Mountain background, she admits her hair is not true to her roots.
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