News "State of Origin is back" - Eddie McGuire, March 2025

[GC2015]

"The thinking is changing within the AFL that they have to do more events and State of Origin is back on," McGuire said.

"The word around over the weekend was that State of Origin is not going to happen and it's more about the International Rules, but they're both going to happen?" Hird asked.

"Yeah, well, standby." McGuire said.

"I'd like to see State of Origin played in the preseason and I think we could have a big carnival where you have that and the women's international game," McGuire said.

"From a selfish point of view as someone that's not from Victoria, Western Australia or South Australia, how do you include the better players from outside? Because, for me, playing for the Allies just didn't mean much," said Hird.

"I would almost have a relegation system. I'd start off with Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Indigenous All Stars. Then I'd have Northern Territory, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland," said McGuire.

"The Queensland kids coming through are going to be sensational, so too New South Wales," McGuire said.

"So I think we're going to actually have a genuine state-based competition and if we make it into something really big, then you have a break [in the preseason] and it doesn't affect training because everyone is doing match simulation anyway. You pay the players properly and we get another major event into Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria or whoever wants to buy it and that's more money into the competition that you can direct to the players or junior football. I think there's a lot of merit in it," McGuire said.

"Looking back on my career, I wish I had have been more involved in state footy because your season is such a big part of the year with the AFL fixture or the Essendon fixture, but to actually elevate the event like the NBA All Star game and the International Rules series are very special memories to play with the best of the best and you create friendships that last a lifetime," Hird said.

@5:06 - Eddie McGuire and James Hird discuss the return of State of Origin footy

 

[Cmarsh]

Sounds more like a wish list from Eddie rather than actual news.

The latest from Andrew Dillon about the topic was the league was in a consultative process with players, clubs etc to see if a revival of SoO was actually viable and make a decision yay or nay by the middle of this year.

But if they are going to have it during the preseason, the players, who will be under influence from their club, will be treating it like a preseason game and not really hit contests with any real vigour. Fans will notice, and it will be criticised. Interest won't be great as a result of going in a bit softer and will peter off. That's my prediction.

 

[HairyO]

And after the first ACL SOO will disappear again.

 

[JackFlash]

Eddie is off the rails yet again, State of Origin will only work if you have state fan empathy along with it. The NRL have that with NSW v QLD, let them have it. It's all they've got!

 

[Colonial]

Its all they've got!

Code Warz rubbish.

 

[JackFlash]

Code Warz rubbish.

It's true, I couldn't give a stuff about code wars..The NRL base their entire season on the success of Origin, they can have it. The AFL base their season on who is the best team in a National competition. Vic v SA or Vic v WA was hugely successful 40 years ago. Why go backwards?

 

[Colonial]

It's true, I couldn't give a stuff about code wars..The NRL base their entire season on the success of Origin, they can have it. The AFL base their season on who is the best team in a National competition. Vic v SA or Vic v WA was hugely successful 40 years ago. Why go backwards?

Yet you carry on with it.

The GF is a massive ratings win and their week to week out rates most AFL games.

Saying they are only SOO is code wars rubbish. Cheap ass bullshit.

 

[PhatBoy]

It's true, I couldn't give a stuff about code wars..The NRL base their entire season on the success of Origin, they can have it. The AFL base their season on who is the best team in a National competition. Vic v SA or Vic v WA was hugely successful 40 years ago. Why go backwards?

lol. When I say ‘we’ please understand I follow both sports with equal passion and if anything I follow the Cats more closely than the Roosters but in this environment (an AFL specific forum) I use the word ‘we’ as being representative of the league side of my fandom:

We really don’t.

Of course it’s the biggest part of our calendar. Why wouldn’t we talk about how it’s the main attraction we have. Everyone knows about it. Most people, fans and non fans, take at least a passing interest in it. But basing our whole season on it? Pffft. Okay mate.

Magic round - where did that come from again? Right. And even where WE got the idea from….. was an overseas rugby league competition.

League has ALWAYS been a dingy, dirty, working class game. It’s never been played, for the most part, on big grounds in front of huge crowds mate. I’ve played the game on some of the grounds where league, even at its absolute working class peak, was played: Henson Park, at Lidcombe Oval (for diabolical level football I need to add as a caveat). Shitholes. They were the staple of the game for 70 years and more, getting 10-12,000 locals just giving it to visitors and that was the lifeblood of the game. They epitomised the game.

Now it is bigger, showier. More people watch on tv, the crowds while never ever in the realms of AFL which is huge, and is supposed to be; it’s played on grounds bigger than any other code on earth, are also bigger than they have been. The game has more money than it’s ever had, though like most normal people I wish it wasn’t generated so much from gambling.

It also is benefitting at the moment from being in the middle of a dynasty of a team perhaps better than any in 60 years, led by a player as good as anyone can remember seeing.


Having a jewel in a crown doesn’t mean you don’t have any other jewels.

 

[Colonial]

Sometimes online I see people imply or say the NRL is more watched than the AFL. It's never followed up with an explanation as to why TV networks are overpaying the AFL every year.

They aren’t overpaying. Aussie Rules games go for longer and have more breaks. So therefore more adds/sponsors.
They may win ratings more often but longer games and more breaks brings them up trumps.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Just Eddie talking. Basically a repeat of this article, 11 years later:

McGuire's recipe for IRS success: add Warney, New York and stir

With his customary passion, Eddie McGuire thinks big on IRS

www.afl.com.au

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

They aren’t overpaying. Aussie Rules games go for longer and have more breaks. So therefore more adds/sponsors.
They may win ratings more often but longer games and more breaks brings them up trumps.

Its also where they are watching. Not all eyeballs are the same for advertisers.

The AFL often wins the 5 metro while losing nationally. NSW and Qld have relatively high populations outside the capitals. But regional viewers are simply not worth as much. Regions generally (not all) have lower incomes, even after housing generally lower disposable incomes, and for physical products higher distribution and supply chain costs.
And for FTA (less so streaming which tends to use national, or at least multi-state, ads) there is often less competition in regional areas, further decreasing the need to advertise.

 

[Milanista28]

Hope so. I think the appetite is there, genuine dislike for Victoria amongst the other states, #VICBIAS would bring plenty of feeling if they brought it back

 

[Colonial]

Hope so. I think the appetite is there, genuine dislike for Victoria amongst the other states, #VICBIAS would bring plenty of feeling if they brought it back

Oh please don’t tell me your idea is for a Vic vs the rest. It’s ego.

 

[iameviljez]

Eddie is off the rails yet again, State of Origin will only work if you have state fan empathy along with it. The NRL have that with NSW v QLD, let them have it. It's all they've got!

It works so well up here because it is just the two states, they are incredibly well-matched, and it's very much mate-vs-mate. There's a massive backstory and a big chip on Queensland's shoulder about it; both sides consider each other to be The Enemy.

Hope so. I think the appetite is there, genuine dislike for Victoria amongst the other states, #VICBIAS would bring plenty of feeling if they brought it back

Aaaaaaaand we hit the number one problem - SA and WA might care, but I don't think Victorians really care that much on average, especially younger ones.

If asked who we would prefer to beat (I'm a Vic ex-pat), I'd shrug my shoulders , and... eh?

State of Origin has, at least in Victoria, been usurped by the national competition, and the attendance figures throughout the 90s showed that. I'd rather watch Geelong beat Adelaide and West Coast than Victoria beat South Australia and Western Australia.

 

[Milanista28]

Oh please don’t tell me your idea is for a Vic vs the rest. It’s ego.

Not at all, Vic vs each state individually, we'd win em all

 

[Colonial]

Not at all, Vic vs each state individually, we'd win em all

It is ego.

 

[Milanista28]

It is ego.

Some states would love to bring that ego down a notch, my whole point, I think it could build, and bring on the rivalry.

 

[SSSSSS]

Bring back AFLX.

Carn the Rampage.

 

[Colonial]

Some states would love to bring that ego down a notch, my whole point, I think it could build, and bring on the rivalry.

As long as the states get their own teams no to a unified bullshit Allies to face Vic.

 

[Milanista28]

As long as the states get their own teams no a unified bullshit to face Vic.

No doubt about that, would need to be state vs state.

 

[bzparkes]

Yawn.

Just old VFL dinosaurs wanting to do some self-fellatio over Vic stars playing for interstate sides wearing 'The Big V'.

Seriously, what a pathetic waste of time.

 

[joy division]

Yawn.

Just old VFL dinosaurs wanting to do some self-fellatio over Vic stars playing for interstate sides wearing 'The Big V'.

Seriously, what a pathetic waste of time.

When you put it like that it sounds so appealing

 

[bzparkes]

When you put it like that it sounds so appealing

I just remember the last one, where they had Fevola and Brown in the team.

Allies were flogging them for most of the game, then the word went out to the field to get 'The Big V' up and the game proceeded to be umpired like a scripted EJ Whitten Legends game.

The commentary box subsequently exploded with Jizz after the ensuing Victorian win.

Just boring filth.

 

[GC2015]

'I'm pretty confident': Eddie reveals plans for Origin return

'I think it's a really good opportunity'

www.nine.com.au

Eddie has today doubled down on his belief that State of Origin will return in 2026. Sounds like it's going to happen over two weekends in February next year and every state + territory will have their own team (except NSW/ACT). He believes they'll do it once every 2-3 years.

The former Collingwood president believes we could see some form of the idea in the 2026 pre-season and theorised that all parts of the country would be represented over two weekends.

"I'm pretty confident that plans, tentative plans, discussions, are being held and we could see some State of Origin next year," McGuire told Nine's Eddie and Jimmy podcast.

"I'd like to see that the division one be the Indigenous All-Stars, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

"And then a Northern Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland.

"And also what I would like to see there is Australia versus Ireland as the first women's international football game.

"And maybe you do this all over two weekends."

"I'm not reaching for a headline, I'm just telling you what makes sense and is being discussed," he said.

"I'm saying that it would be a really good idea and others share that idea.

"I think it's a really good opportunity.

"It turns into another television event. It turns into another tourism event. It fills the stadium in Western Australia and maybe a Marvel Stadium and it stands up in a time when the rugby league is over in Vegas."

Co-host Jimmy Bartel liked the idea, putting his hand firmly up when asked if he would consider coaching the Victorian side.

"Absolutely. It would be the greatest honour ever," the Geelong great said.

When quizzed by SEN earlier in the year about their stance on the return of State of Origin, all 18 current AFL captains expressed their desire to be involved.

Brisbane captain Lachie Neale was the firmest, saying "hell yes. I'd love to play in that".

While Essendon skipper Zach Merrett gave it a "massive yes".

 

[Cmarsh]

'I'm pretty confident': Eddie reveals plans for Origin return

'I think it's a really good opportunity'

www.nine.com.au

Eddie has today doubled down on his belief that State of Origin will return in 2026. Sounds like it's going to happen over two weekends in February next year and every state + territory will have their own team (except NSW/ACT). He believes they'll do it once every 2-3 years.

If they go ahead with it I think they will alternate between SoO and International Rules year by year.