Opinion Instead of a "gather round" why not a State of Origin round?

Coolangatta

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 27, 2007
6,890
5,875
Western Australia
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Issue is when would be the best time, because clubs don't want to risk their players getting injured, so I don't know about whether you could even get it off the ground or not.

You could host it in one city per year, before, during, or after the season, and rotate it.

Who has enough AFL registered players eligible to compete?

Let's say Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania. QLD could add NT players? NSW add ACT? Not sure.

You could have, say, Adelaide host it one year and go something like:

Friday night: Western Australia v New South Wales, Adelaide Oval

Saturday twilight or night: Queensland v Tasmania, Adelaide Oval

Sunday: South Australia v Victoria, Adelaide Oval

Enable people to purchase an all-in-one ticket to the three games.

Could something like that be feasible? Probably not.
 
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Crabapplepittard

Cancelled
Jul 10, 2014
4,149
4,743
AFL Club
Adelaide
tumbleweed GIF
 

FourthTimeAround

Cancelled
Jun 6, 2022
2,173
2,639
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Ok, State of Origin.

Would have to have something meaningful riding on it.

Vic v Rest of Australia.
Round 4.

Winning team hosts the GF. Vic = MCG. Non Vic = Rotation basis between SA, WA, NSW, QLD.
 
Jun 14, 2015
17,456
38,122
In a house with a sausage dog Trevor
AFL Club
Melbourne
Other Teams
Port Adelaide Power
I would like to see AFL have a "Brawl For All" type round, for those of you that don't follow other sports like professional wrestling this was a boxing match between WWE combatants.

Imagine each AFL team picks one of their players and they fight another player then it's like round robin type thing with the overall winner getting I don't know, maybe they get 8 points or an extra week off come finals?

I'd pick Jake Melksham for Melbourne Demons- ex boxer of some repute, smashed Stevie May in the face at a cheeseburger restaurant, angry little man.
Also not really vital to Melbourne Demon's premiership chances so if he can't play an actual AFL match because his face broke, who cares.
(Has a nice face though, would be a shame).
 
I would like to see AFL have a "Brawl For All" type round, for those of you that don't follow other sports like professional wrestling this was a boxing match between WWE combatants.

Imagine each AFL team picks one of their players and they fight another player then it's like round robin type thing with the overall winner getting I don't know, maybe they get 8 points or an extra week off come finals?

I'd pick Jake Melksham for Melbourne Demons- ex boxer of some repute, smashed Stevie May in the face at a cheeseburger restaurant, angry little man.
Also not really vital to Melbourne Demon's premiership chances so if he can't play an actual AFL match because his face broke, who cares.
(Has a nice face though, would be a shame).
It was no cheeseburger restaurant
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,572
87,818
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
I was happy to call it dead but I thought the 2020 Bushfire match actually showed some promise. Players were very happy with it and spoke about how much they enjoyed the weekend.

Make it all on one weekend, carnival style, hosted on one city on a rotating basis - the players seem to like this "all star" style approach and being part of it when all the best players come together - it becomes a bit of a status thing and an experience.

Select a charity and make sure they get a very good dividend out of it. Players and clubs should be encouraged to take part for a reason and they are more likely to if they can see something good come out of it.

Propose to hold it every three years to give it some rarity. Every year is too much.

Have three games across the weekend. the TV networks will say when they want them.

Div 1: Vic vs WA
Div 2: SA/NT vs NSW/ACT
Div 3: Qld vs Tas

The territories can be placed with the states as they were at Federation - NT with SA and ACT with NSW.

See how it goes. If it's a success in terms of participation (players take part), fans (attendance and TV figures) and finances (the charity gets a good result) then you'd do it again.

Next time around:

Winner of Div 1 versus Winner of Div 2
Loser of Div 1 versus Winner of Div 3
Loser of Div 2 versus Loser of Div 3

Modern footy has become so incredibly structured, that won't be the case in these games as they won't have much time to meet, plan and train together. Think it'd become a bit more of a freestyle game, bounce the ball and just let the players go at it.

I think we're all happy to call modern coaches the ultimate enemies of the game, they won't want this for their players and they hate unstructured footy. So don't involve active coaches - hand it to somebody as an honour and let them pick their own assistants.

Vic: Mick Malthouse
WA: John Worsfold
SA/NT: Nathan Buckley
NSW/ACT: James Hird
Qld: Jason Dunstall
Tas: Rodney Eade
 

Cunnington Cartel

All Australian
Nov 18, 2022
663
1,054
AFL Club
North Melbourne
I was happy to call it dead but I thought the 2020 Bushfire match actually showed some promise. Players were very happy with it and spoke about how much they enjoyed the weekend.

Make it all on one weekend, carnival style, hosted on one city on a rotating basis - the players seem to like this "all star" style approach and being part of it when all the best players come together - it becomes a bit of a status thing and an experience.

Select a charity and make sure they get a very good dividend out of it. Players and clubs should be encouraged to take part for a reason and they are more likely to if they can see something good come out of it.

Propose to hold it every three years to give it some rarity. Every year is too much.

Have three games across the weekend. the TV networks will say when they want them.

Div 1: Vic vs WA
Div 2: SA/NT vs NSW/ACT
Div 3: Qld vs Tas

The territories can be placed with the states as they were at Federation - NT with SA and ACT with NSW.

See how it goes. If it's a success in terms of participation (players take part), fans (attendance and TV figures) and finances (the charity gets a good result) then you'd do it again.

Next time around:

Winner of Div 1 versus Winner of Div 2
Loser of Div 1 versus Winner of Div 3
Loser of Div 2 versus Loser of Div 3

Modern footy has become so incredibly structured, that won't be the case in these games as they won't have much time to meet, plan and train together. Think it'd become a bit more of a freestyle game, bounce the ball and just let the players go at it.

I think we're all happy to call modern coaches the ultimate enemies of the game, they won't want this for their players and they hate unstructured footy. So don't involve active coaches - hand it to somebody as an honour and let them pick their own assistants.

Vic: Mick Malthouse
WA: John Worsfold
SA/NT: Nathan Buckley
NSW/ACT: James Hird
Qld: Jason Dunstall
Tas: Rodney Eade

Well done. Best SoO proposal I’ve seen by some margin. From a fan, player and broadcasters’ perspective, what’s not to like? The biggest hurdle would obviously be provided by the clubs themselves; however, the 3 year cycle would hopefully reduce their level of resistance to the concept.

The only change I would make would be to bring in a 4th division (and 4th game) by having the territories play independently. As a Tasmanian, I despise any Allies/ All Stars constructs. I don’t care about a composite side, I want to see my state side running around out there and I think that fans and players from every state and territory deserve that opportunity as well.
 
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