Comments on: Origin in Melbourne is not the way to go

By: oikee

oikee — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:02:13 +0000

Alot of them might have been storm supporters as well Jim. I am looking forward to the Kiwis and the poms at suncorp next week. Should be a cracker.

By: JimC

JimC — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:35:57 +0000

Alan your wrong. I went to the game in Melbourne (as an England fan) and was pleasantly surprised by the knowledgeble local crowd, and their obvious appreciation of Slater and Inglis in particular. It’s a great stadium as well.

Brisbane gets plenty of big games.

By: oikee

oikee — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:47:13 +0000

Good question M.C Getting off that subject, do you think we could see a IR match up here at suncorp , you already have 30-40 thousand that turn up to the gabba, so a full house at suncorp would be gauranteed. ?

By: Michael C

Michael C — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:48:50 +0000

Alan nicolea -

Melbourne has been exposed to State of Origin RL semi regularly since 1994.

The main benefit for Melbourne is for interstaters to fly in for it – good for business, as, the Northerners (heat affected) don’t like coming to town for the Storm as it’s too cold.

Personally, back when the VFL reigned and Vic vs SA was the pinnacle State of Origin, sheesh, why the heck would you play it in Sydney?? But, back then, we only played 1 game for each match up, and having more than 2 primary states makes it harder to work out……..especially when there’s another 125-150 or so players representing the ‘minor’ states. If the Vics manage to one day have 3 or 4 players………….which state will they be permitted to ‘qualify’ for?

By: Alan Nicolea

Alan Nicolea — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:45:14 +0000

Millister

I think SOO should stand on its own. Its the pinnacle of rugby league in Australia and when the rest of the world, let alone melbourne, know what league is about, then Origin should be played in those parts of the world. If it reaches that stage, no doubt league will be a great success.

By: Millster

Millster — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:35:41 +0000

Umm… Alan… I would not be highlighting Aust V England as a good example of any sport anywhere on the planet. You could barely even call it a contest. Kind of equivalent to Manchester United playing the Acacia Ridge under 13′s. Though I agree the Bledislowe in HK wasn’t the best either, although at least both sides were competitive. But anyway, on this comment, and going back to your post before where you say “If league wants to promote the game, internationals should be played more often” I think quite the opposite. League internationals currently do nothing at all for the game when they involve Australia, in fact they make it look a touch ridiculous. SoO is much better at promoting a skilled hard-competed contest.

By: Alan Nicolea

Alan Nicolea — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:23:13 +0000

Mokifat

That was Union played in Hong Kong not league. I’m sure League would have provided the hong kong faithful with more tries and open play, just like the Kangaroos did against England at the Dome

By: Mokicat

Mokicat — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:29:13 +0000

Alan do you really mean the ‘ARU promotes a code that is not attractive to Melbourne audiences’. After Saturdays snorefest in Hong Kong that code is not attractive any where.

By: oikee

oikee — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:34:11 +0000

Not aware of that game M.C but as you know there is plenty of juniors coming through in melbourne, give it time. we only have got serious about melbourne the last 10 years unlike rules which has been played in other states for the last 150 years .
Alan i know what you are saying, and that telstra dome is not a good league or soccer or union ground as you are 2 far away from the action, but give it time and hopefully when they get that new stadium built we could see a nice cosy 35 thousand attend. Thats the trouble with melbourne, they only know aussie rules and have not really catered for other codes.

We might have better opportunity in Perth future. Still the dome is good if the atmosphere is right, with the queensland crowd you get that, hopefully we get 20 thousand queenslanders down there hey.

By: alan nicolea

alan nicolea — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:21:13 +0000

Oikee

Origin is all about Qld and NSW. origin just wont be the same in Melbourne. When they played the Origin in 2006 at the Dome, the atmosphere was not the same for me. If league wants to promote the game, internationals should be played more often at the venue. but Origin should stand alone as a NSW and QLD thing. That is what makes it so special after all.

By: Michael C

Michael C — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:37:49 +0000

oikee -

reality is that playing a NRL SoO match in Melbourne just makes plainly obvious that the Storm is represented by relocated QLD and NSW lads. And that Victoria not just isn’t ‘competitive’ in SoO, but, doesn’t have any known representatives in the NRL. (if there are, forgive me, I’ve not seen any mention of them – although there might be a Vic acadmey ‘graduate’ on the books at South Sydney??

btw – do you recall back in about 1990, a NSW ‘SoO’ side defeated a very good Victoria ‘A’ side on a very wet SCG – - – granted, that included players from Corowa, Albury etc, and the ACT too I believe, and bent most rules to include guys as readily as possible – - such that the joke was if you’d ever flown across part of NSW that you qualified.

By: True Tah

True Tah — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:17:39 +0000

Alan I dont know about hundreds of thousands of NSW residents being deprived of Origin, when they struggle to sellout Homebush Stadium.

By: oikee

oikee — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:10:12 +0000

Its good to play the 3 games at and in different staes Alan. No team then has a advantage, and also the queensland league fans flock to melbourne for this game, who cares if melbourne dont like the game, you cant deny the fact its a true contest at the highest level. I for one will be off to the game and i am sure their is plenty more who give anything to get behind the team.

Also the ever increasing storm supporters will be there. I would also like to see the game go to perth if they can get a good stadium built in the future. We also hopefully will see maybe a tonga verse samoa game being introduced next year, maybe they could play that at suncorp as well, would also get a good following.