Representative games live and die on if they're genuinely competitive and the players have to have something to represent that they care about.
So getting rid of the allies is a start, playing any Vic games in the other states is also imperative.
Personally I'd go W.A v S.A. in year one then the winner plays the vics at home the following year. That will build it nicely, then year 3 have the break for the all stars game. I understand they might wanna start with the biggest bang though being W.A v Vic, but it kinda limits the good content to only one year initially.
I think it is definitely worth a shot and the pre season is the only time it would potentially work. I'm glad to hear the w.a government are getting involved that will help it not being a money drain on the competition.
* the other concept that could work and would make the nrl jealous, is if every third year in Perth you had a state carnival. Split Vic into metro and country (I actually think this would garner more interest in Victoria), then have w.a. v s.a, qld v nsw and tas v n.t all on the one weekend, televised nationally into each home state. Really good promotion of Australian football as the national game and all those games listed above would be a lot more competitive. Unfortunately I feel players will only wanna play if it's every 3 years coz of the novelty, unless it builds in prestige over time. The winner of metro v country plays the winner of w.a v s.a the next time around etc
So getting rid of the allies is a start, playing any Vic games in the other states is also imperative.
Personally I'd go W.A v S.A. in year one then the winner plays the vics at home the following year. That will build it nicely, then year 3 have the break for the all stars game. I understand they might wanna start with the biggest bang though being W.A v Vic, but it kinda limits the good content to only one year initially.
I think it is definitely worth a shot and the pre season is the only time it would potentially work. I'm glad to hear the w.a government are getting involved that will help it not being a money drain on the competition.
* the other concept that could work and would make the nrl jealous, is if every third year in Perth you had a state carnival. Split Vic into metro and country (I actually think this would garner more interest in Victoria), then have w.a. v s.a, qld v nsw and tas v n.t all on the one weekend, televised nationally into each home state. Really good promotion of Australian football as the national game and all those games listed above would be a lot more competitive. Unfortunately I feel players will only wanna play if it's every 3 years coz of the novelty, unless it builds in prestige over time. The winner of metro v country plays the winner of w.a v s.a the next time around etc
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