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As the NRL and greater sporting community prepares itself for the second match of the 2015 State of Origin series, I got thinking about whether the AFL would or could try and replicate it with its own competition.
While copying the exact format would not work, there is the potential that the AFL could replicate the concept with one of its own.
Pros of having a Origin in AFL
At the end of the day, the NRL State of Origin series is treated with higher regard than national games and for a lot of supporters, higher than the NRL Premiership – especially if your team has no hope.
People that don’t normally watch league sit down thrice a year to watch a bunch of New South Wales players take on a team of Queenslanders. The viewing audience is massive, with an estimated four million viewers watching games 1 and 2 last season. The AFL grand final in the same year only had approximately 2.8 million viewers.
So from a purely commercial stand point, why wouldn’t the AFL want to have a three-game series that gets those kinds of numbers for a Wednesday night? The AFL has a state versus state mentality already with the Victorians and anyone who isn’t Victoria.
As a former croweater before moving the NSW/ACT region, ‘kick a Vic’ and general ribbing of Victorians was a state pastime. Also the SANFL, VFL and WAFL have enough of a breeding ground to the AFL system to field a team of 22 players that come from their respective states.
Also, to a lesser extent State of Origin does currently exist. The SANFL, WAFL, VFL and now NEAFL do have a State of Origin round that is played each season. And as per Des Hasler’s supporters that it ruins the club level with games being played without their stars, the leagues have a bye and the Origin game is played as a stand alone on Saturday.
This allows both teams time to train together and not jeopardise their clubs premiership tilts.
Cons of an AFL State of Origin
In the past, the AFL State of Origin has been poorly attended, and although the players that are selected put on a great show, the general interest is pretty low.
I remember a lot of supporters at my old SANFL club would take an interest in the Centrals players that make the squad, then treat the weekend as a bye round and go to the pub.
So, if it was to capture interest then why not play the AFL players? Well, if you were to go down that route the states would need buy in from their respective AFL clubs to play. I imagine Sydney would be reluctant to release Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippet to go play in essentially an exhibition game.
Without the prestige of playing origin, it would likely be second or third string players that are released to play, much like during NAB Cup.
Also, who plays in a State of Origin? For NRL its NSW versus Queensland.
What teams would the AFL take? An Origin series with four teams – Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and a combined NSW/Qld – would result in too many matches, including dead rubbers.
Finally, a major problem with NRL is the game is played on a Wednesday, with club games before and after. Would the AFL go down the same route and expect players to play a Wednesday and be right to go just a few days later?
The AFL will never give three weekends one game only. It doesn’t make financial sense to them. And with NRL, the game is more or less over in two hours (once it actually starts).
AFL starts precisely on schedule, but often goes for nearly three hours (from pre game warm up to team song). A 7.40pm kick off on Wednesday would see fans switching off early to get kids to bed.
At the end of the day, I don’t see State of Origin getting a genuine run at AFL level. It may remain a novelty at state level, but it’s one that the NRL will always have over the AFL.
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