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It is times like these, when nations fly in to one location and partake in the Rugby World Cup, or when two states collide in state of origin battle, that the term envious is used ever so frequently.
I am passionate about sport, simple as that. Be it competing or watching, I will attempt to play or take in most sports.
Australia’s game, AFL, provides a great spectacle to those at the game and people in the stands or on the couch.
However, it doesn’t possess that major event of which rugby, league, and soccer has – a World Cup tournament or state of origin series.
Before some jump on my back, I will acknowledge that AFL has the international rules series, but I am not going to be holding that in the same sentence as those aforementioned for even a second.
The series between Australia and Ireland is a modified exhibition event that has taken over state of origin and is Andrew Demetriou’s offer to other nations in an attempt to take the game global.
However, the clash of the two nations has been lacking something significant over the past several years.
Has there ever been a better time to reinstate the AFL state of origin?
In more recent times, captains Chris Judd and Nick Maxwell have called for state of origin to be played once again. In their eyes, the series should be played at the state of the season, rather than playing the pre-season NAB cup.
I agree with Judd and Maxwell to an extent. If the state of origin is brought back, then it should be played around the half-way mark, if not a few rounds before – similar to the NRL.
Now I am sure that people are going to highlight several of my comments and claim that players need time off or the season is already too long and so on.
I say, look at league’s Queensland versus New South Wales battle. Players fight for the opportunity to don the maroon or light blue jumper, then they fight even harder to secure the win and bask in the glory.
AFL, on the other hand, rest and give up their jumper for another player.
I was in Wellington recently and took in the Rugby World Cup. The passion, the atmosphere, and the world-class matches made me think long and hard about this article.
I was at the Wellington International Airport waiting for my flight back to Melbourne when I had a look around. It was hard to spot someone not wearing their nation’s colours.
Even those from the lower-ranked sides had an enormous smile on their face.
It is the joy of watching the best take to the field. I am covetous of those sports that have in place a tournament or series that matches the most-skilled players and talented teams against each other.
In a nutshell, let’s start the call for AFL state of origin. It is greatly overdue.
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