Opinion What would 2022 AFL State of Origin teams look like on paper?
- Thread starter Coolangatta
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Not that I'm aware of, no.
Harry Lemmey another top 5 pick this year probably the next SA tall forward really coming through.
Bjo187
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I'm actually surprised how weak the s.a side is these days, I think it all comes back to population though, Victoria has increased the gap massively and w.a is much bigger than s.a now too. At least s.a has a few top 5 picks in the past few years which hopefully strengthens their squad in the future as neale and grundy are the only two stars in there at the moment.
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Another option would be to hold it before the grand final, leaving out everyone bar the two final teams. A pre-grand-final bye would leave the finalists fresh and raring to go - better than the pre-finals bye.
It's an option, but 3 big problems I can see.
1. By this time, all the non GF/Finals teams are in the peak of their getting pissed and doing drugs off season period before they knuckle down again for the preseason. They have well and truly checked out.
2. Many non GF/Finals teams have sent their players in for surgery and this is the period they are in recovery.
3. SoO is about the best of the best from each state, and you'd imagine in any given year the GF has half a dozen or more players playing that would be walk up starts to SoO, but not available. E.g. to take the 2021 GF as an example, you'd automatically be missing Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Bontempelli, Naughton, May, etc. Players who'd like be walk up starts to their SoO sides.
However, I am not sure there is a "right" time for SoO in AFL,
In the NRL it works because SoO is the pinnacle, and players are happy to give it their all and run the risk of injury just to represent the state.
One thing is for sure though, if the players embraced it, the fans would too.
In a hypothetical, trying to keep some form of state patriotism and not just blending in the "Allies".
Would the following teams be the best balance?
VIC
SA
WA
QLD/NT
NSW/ACT/TAS
I realise TAS is kind of shoehorned it, but that sort of happens when you are disconnected from the mainland and the most obvious geographical join to VIC would make them far too strong already.
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Orazio Fantasia can't get a run for SA? Av. of 1.46 goals per game and has kicked 4+ on 12 occasions.
Josh Bruce's State of Origin is ACT. Pretty handy backup forward. Has kicked 5+ on 10 occasions including 10.2 in a game last year.
afldata.info
Josh Bruce's State of Origin is ACT. Pretty handy backup forward. Has kicked 5+ on 10 occasions including 10.2 in a game last year.
AFL Data – Comprehensive AFL data with filtering
afldata.info
The problem is Tasmania there as combining NSW and ACT makes sense, as the ACT is in NSW, and even combining QLD and NT can be justified, but it is hard to justify combining TAS with NSW as at that point you may as well just call them the Allies, which benefits no one.
TENACIOUS
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Would rather have something different to NRL...
Maybe
All Australian team Vs The Rest
Then the All Australian selectors would have to be accountable for their selections and pick a legit team...
Maybe
All Australian team Vs The Rest
Then the All Australian selectors would have to be accountable for their selections and pick a legit team...
Why would you have a five team competition with Tasmania joining NSW/ACT when you can just have an even six team competition with Tasmania having its own team? You could even do it all on one weekend:
DIV 1 - Friday night
Victoria vs Western Australia
DIV 2 - Saturday night
South Australia vs New South Wales/ACT
DIV 3 - Sunday afternoon
Queensland/NT vs Tasmania
One game for each team a year. Then you just have a promotion-relegation system where the winners go up one division and the losers go down. That way you get fresh match ups every year. Simple.
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Quite like this idea... defend your selection in the team.
Would also force them to name proper wings, small forwards and defenders, balance the bench etc rather than just loading up on kpps.
Only issue is the AA is based on the previous years form. Maybe do a half year one? Also would this just mean we effectively have 2 AA teams? Who would pick the second?
I don't disagree. There was a long patch from 2008 - 2017 with very few top end talents drafted from SA. This has had an impact. Since then it has been much improved so look better in 5 years time.
Likes of Thilthorpe, Horne-Francis, Wanganeen-Milera, Pickett, Day, Bailey, Rozee, Rankine, Lukosius, Pedlar, Hately, Dawson, Fogarty, Stephens, Lemmey (top 5 2022), Ryan (top 10 2022), Delean (top 5 2023) will make for a much stronger side on paper.
Plus pretty good talents like Schoenberg, Frederick, W.Milera, Hayward, Sparrow, Ballard, Petty, L.Jones, B.Cook, Mead.
As of now, each state/country would have this many AFL listed players to choose from:
VIC 433 players
WA 123 players
SA 110 players
NSW/ACT 50 players
QLD 31 players
TAS 26 players
NT 15 players
IRE 13 players
USA 1 player
PNG 1 player
VIC 433 players
WA 123 players
SA 110 players
NSW/ACT 50 players
QLD 31 players
TAS 26 players
NT 15 players
IRE 13 players
USA 1 player
PNG 1 player
Interesting numbers. More SA players than I would have thought. And closer to WA.
Would expect as GC gains a foothold in SE Qld those Queensland numbers will increase over time.
Think they are just going through a downturn. The youth numbers are up astronomically, so suspect that will translate to AFL players over time.
Bjo187
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Great data I have been trying to find this for a while, can I ask how you got it?
You’d think Fredericks would be close to getting a gig in that SA side.
With the talk of potential 19th and 20th sides, I was curious where all these players would come from. I used the DraftGuru website which has all the up to date lists with clubs of origin including in a lot of cases the junior clubs, plus google and Wikipedia. For instances where a mature age got drafted from an SANFL club, for example, and it only listed their SANFL club, I googled to see where they originally came from and put them down for that state. It might not be 100% accurate, but I tried to be as much as I could.
Would be great if the AFL themselves kept up to date with that information and could provide lists of what state every player is eligible to play State of Origin. You wouldn't think it would be hard.
Bjo187
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Great work, the only other thing I'd be interested in is the breakdown of Victoria into country and metro.
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I don't think I've ever seen a WA SOO side since the 90s with only 3 WC players in it. Weird that Freo are flying and only have 2 also with one of them Fyfe who hasn't played all year. But most of their better players are from Vic/SA.
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