AFL State of Origin - time to bring it back?

[dustysnecktattoo]

Yes, off season, make it rewarding and honourable

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Lol, Vic clubs getting handed their arses by non Vics, next minute, lets bring back SOO so we can regain some face as a collective.

 

[Engimal v3]

non Vics

 

[Bjo187]

Have a complete bye round, play:

WA vs Vic Country, Perth Stadium, Friday night
NSW/ACT vs Queensland, SCG, Saturday afternoon
Vic Metro vs SA, MCG, Saturday night
Tassie vs NT, Bellerive, Sunday afternoon

Yeah that's the other alternative, however less impact if they aren't mid week standalone fixtures.

Metro would absolutely smash s.a, especially if it's at the mcg. Any time the Vic teams play against s.a or w.a, I'd prefer those games in Adelaide and Perth. It balances out the talent advantage, plus those states would go feral and sellout the ground wanting to beat Victorian rep teams.

 

[juss]

I was thinking, you could actually do it midweek on a Wednesday across 3 or 4 weeks mid year. I think it would give the season a boost during the tough winter grind, plus it's also taking focus away from the nrl, who get a free hit in every state with their games being stand alone on a Wednesday.

The way to effectively do this is give the bye weekend the following weekend to the teams that have players most likely selected on the Wednesday. This helps with the highest percentage of players from each state, playing for clubs in their own states these days. For example.

Round 10 mid week:
QLD v NSW (bye that weekend for swans, giants, lions, suns)

Round 11 mid week:
S.A V W.A (bye that weekend for crows, power, freo, eagles)

Round 12 mid week:
Vic metro v Vic country (bye that weekend for the best 6 of the 10 Vic clubs)

The current injury situation at various clubs through the first half of the year I think shows why clubs wouldn't support SoO.

I don't think mid week games even with byes would work.

 

[Bjo187]

The current injury situation at various clubs through the first half of the year I think shows why clubs wouldn't support SoO.

I don't think mid week games even with byes would work.

The clubs should suck it up. It's basically one more game for a small percentage of their team and they would still get a bye a week or two after anyway. The carrot for the players would be 30k match payments.

Seriously though, the impact of having all the big stars in various states doing clinics and promotion during the week, it would be like gather round. Not only that, but people realising the strength of the code across the entire country would be great. Even the NSW team would have a bunch of stars like tex walker, hawkins, heeney, witts etc. It would be great promotion for the game.

 

[Kwality]

I was thinking, you could actually do it midweek on a Wednesday across 3 or 4 weeks mid year. I think it would give the season a boost during the tough winter grind, plus it's also taking focus away from the nrl, who get a free hit in every state with their games being stand alone on a Wednesday.

The way to effectively do this is give the bye weekend the following weekend to the teams that have players most likely selected on the Wednesday. This helps with the highest percentage of players from each state, playing for clubs in their own states these days. For example.

Round 10 mid week:
QLD v NSW (bye that weekend for swans, giants, lions, suns)

Round 11 mid week:
S.A V W.A (bye that weekend for crows, power, freo, eagles)

Round 12 mid week:
Vic metro v Vic country (bye that weekend for the best 6 of the 10 Vic clubs)

Compromised isnt the 'best of the best'.
Billy Slater summed it up: .... 'it is not his team, it’s Queensland’s team.'

It gauls me, Aussie Rules footy introduced it, the NRL continue to milk it big time.

 

[Bjo187]

Compromised isnt the 'best of the best'.
Billy Slater summed it up: .... 'it is not his team, it’s Queensland’s team.'

It gauls me, Aussie Rules footy introduced it, the NRL continue to milk it big time.

I don't get your point. What's compromised?

 

[Kwality]

I don't get your point. What's compromised?

Mid week. IF the best players arent there, its a recipe for disaster.

As it is Origin is a proud chapter in our games history.

 

[GC2015]

Compromised isnt the 'best of the best'.
Billy Slater summed it up: .... 'it is not his team, it’s Queensland’s team.'

It gauls me, Aussie Rules footy introduced it, the NRL continue to milk it big time.

They're at risk of compromising their showpiece event because a few Kiwis are trying to find a loophole to play in the biggest game of the year. NZ representatives Jason Taumololo (moved from Auckland to Townsville at 12 year of age) and Brandon Smith (moved from Auckland to Townsville at 14) both want to play for Queensland in State of Origin but also want to retain the right to represent New Zealand/Tonga at the international level. How passionate can you really be about playing for NSW/QLD if you're actually a born and raised Kiwi and you've chosen to play for NZ in international competitions? IMO the intrinsic element that makes State of Origin special is the passion one has for their area they grew up in and if you start allowing players who grew up in other countries who have sworn allegiance to another country then you've lost that special element.

It's not an All Star game. It's Australian State of Origin and trying to claim that you're both a Queenslander and a Kiwi is pretty ridiculous and I say this as a Maroons supporter that would benefit from having Taumololo and Smith in the team. Maybe NZ can run their own Region of Origin competition if they want a showpiece event.

 

[Bjo187]

Mid week. IF the best players arent there, its a recipe for disaster.

As it is Origin is a proud chapter in our games history.

I think it's more likely they are there mid week knowing they have the bye that weekend and get a break. You'd play all those teams with the highest representation the round prior on the Thurs, Fri or Sat to maximise their rest, prior to the origin game on Wednesday.

Essendon and Collingwood do this a lot of years anyway with Anzac day and go ok and don't have any bye's before or after it.

 

[MSB ROYS]

NRL SOO works well because it's binary. Not State versus States like the AFL. As for Vic country and metro teams, that's a joke.

Also, the rules are clear, you can't play for NZ or England and play SOO. Just because they want doesn't mean that it will happen. If Tonga and Samoa move to Tier 1, which should happen, this will be a bigger issue. They get paid very well to play SOO games, so that will also be a consideration for some.

 

[10571z]

Would you be happy for your teams best player to be injured if it meant your state won the game?

No? Then why bring it back. Stick to what the AFL is good at.

 

[HirdyLannister]

Sounds nice in theory and the rose tint glasses makes it appealing but it doesn't work in modern AFL.

I'm happy to enjoy NRL state of origin

 

[Bjo187]

Sounds nice in theory and the rose tint glasses makes it appealing but it doesn't work in modern AFL.

I'm happy to enjoy NRL state of origin

The same was said about gather round from all the naysayers, I reckon about 80 percent on here called the concept a joke and back flipped very quickly once they saw how it went.

 

[HirdyLannister]

The same was said about gather round from all the naysayers, I reckon about 80 percent on here called the concept a joke and back flipped very quickly once they saw how it went.

Disagree with the similarities with gather round, I personally think it's a great concept for NRL and AFL.

Biggest issue/difference is the length of games of AFL

Watch Slater and Selwood interview, Slater grew up with a Maroon jumper first.. it just wouldn't happen with AFL, there is no passion and pride associated with it.

 

[Bjo187]

Disagree with the similarities with gather round, I personally think it's a great concept for NRL and AFL.

Biggest issue/difference is the length of games of AFL

Watch Slater and Selwood interview, Slater grew up with a Maroon jumper first.. it just wouldn't happen with AFL, there is no passion and pride associated with it.

Who cares about the nrl, it's a 2 state sport is the only reason it works and both states are evenly matched. The AFL version dropped off because the teams weren't evenly matched, so the players lost interest and so did the crowds. You get the concept right by splitting Victoria into metro and country (like they do at under 18 level anyway realising that's common sense) and it will build over time. You don't have to do it every year, it could be an every second year or 2 in every 3 set up to, keep it fresh and attractive to the players.

 

[The_Reaper]

Every 4 years have a small tournament - with states rotating the hosts.

Sort of like a world cup.

 

[Kwality]

Who cares about the nrl, it's a 2 state sport is the only reason it works and both states are evenly matched. The AFL version dropped off because the teams weren't evenly matched, so the players lost interest and so did the crowds. You get the concept right by splitting Victoria into metro and country (like they do at under 18 level anyway realising that's common sense) and it will build over time. You don't have to do it every year, it could be an every second year or 2 in every 3 set up to, keep it fresh and attractive to the players.

The reason the NRL is relevant is because of the success of Origin, regularly seeing it feature amongst the highest TV ratings for the winter codes.

I agree you dont need an AFL version to be held annually.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

The same was said about gather round from all the naysayers, I reckon about 80 percent on here called the concept a joke and back flipped very quickly once they saw how it went.

Gather Round remains a stupid concept, skewing the fixture yet another way.

Every 4 years have a small tournament - with states rotating the hosts.

Sort of like a world cup.

Even then its hard to see clubs agreeing to anything other than post-season. Pre-season is highly unlikely, and during the season can be forgotten about entirely.
But a tournament style event once every few years in October - replacing International Rules series - seems the only realistic prospect. And that doesn't seem very realistic. Having almost no suitable capacity grounds available outside the season make even that logistically difficult (basically, just Docklands and Kardinia Park once complete have reasonable capacity outside major use cricket grounds).

 

[Sphynx]

Every 4 years have a small tournament - with states rotating the hosts.

Sort of like a world cup.

This is the answer.

Make it rare and unique.

Players may only have 1 or 2 opportunities to play in it in their entire careers. They will be falling over themselves to play in something only every 4 years imo.

With large waiting times, it will build anticipation.


It could also function as an evolved Gather Round imo, where all games are played in a single city. Some State Governments would pay up pretty big to host it imo.


The All-Stars vs Victoria was a huge event 10 years ago, even in that bastardised format, this will be just as big. Crowds and TV viewership would be enormous imo.

Give the increased revenue from the winning Government major event tender, commercial revenue and TV $$$ back to the clubs as compensation, they will get over any injuries pretty quickly. Maybe give bonus payments per representative player also.

Vic vs SA
WA vs Allies

Is the only way the format works imo.

 

[Kwality]

This is the answer.

Make it rare and unique.

Players may only have 1 or 2 opportunities to play in it in their entire careers. They will be falling over themselves to play in something only every 4 years imo.

With large waiting times, it will build anticipation.


It could also function as an evolved Gather Round imo, where all games are played in a single city. Some State Governments would pay up pretty big to host it imo.


The All-Stars vs Victoria was a huge event 10 years ago, even in that bastardised format, this will be just as big. Crowds and TV viewership would be enormous imo.

Give the increased revenue from the winning Government major event tender, commercial revenue and TV $$$ back to the clubs as compensation, they will get over any injuries pretty quickly. Maybe give bonus payments per representative player also.

what would it be worth to the TV rights ?

 

[1990crow]

I think as a code we should just accept the risk of an injury or two to advance the popularity as well as maximise eyeballs + dollars.

Bring it back. Do it midyear and enforce a bye over two rounds for everyone, with the better players only getting one weeks rest to be managed over the fortnight's either side.

 

[eth-dog]

Yeah that's the other alternative, however less impact if they aren't mid week standalone fixtures.

Metro would absolutely smash s.a, especially if it's at the mcg. Any time the Vic teams play against s.a or w.a, I'd prefer those games in Adelaide and Perth. It balances out the talent advantage, plus those states would go feral and sellout the ground wanting to beat Victorian rep teams.

There's no way SoO doesn't have a game at the MCG if they bring it back. Plus, both WA and SA will want a Vic team to play. VM will win anywhere, period, so let them win in the biggest stadium in Australia

 

[Great8]

I think as a code we should just accept the risk of an injury or two to advance the popularity as well as maximise eyeballs + dollars.

Bring it back. Do it midyear and enforce a bye over two rounds for everyone, with the better players only getting one weeks rest to be managed over the fortnight's either side.

Loved origin as a kid but not sure we need it currently.
To make it happen the AFL would need to offer up a very generous compensation package to clubs for players injured