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Yorkshire versus Inner Sydney: Taking Origin to the extreme

Sam Burgess' 2014 grand final performance showed just how tough he is. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Roar Guru
15th July, 2016
22

Well it’s over again. Goodbye State of Origin until 2017.

State of Origin inspires contrasting feelings inside me. I love it and loathe it with a passion. I love the 80 minute contest as a fan of rugby league. But that same fan in me hates the way the series undermines, overshadows and swallows almost everything else that rugby league has to offer.

However, this isn’t an article about the pros and cons of Origin. We debate and discuss that exact subject every year and I’m sure I’m not the only one bored by it.

I write this article because the same questions run through my mind every year when I’m enjoying the series. Why is Greg Inglis (born and raised in NSW) eligible for Queensland when Josh Hoffman (born and raised in Queensland) isn’t?

The same thing enters my mind when James Tamou is taking a hit up. Why is he eligible for NSW when other Sydney-raised Kiwis are not?

I know the answer to those, as do you. I won’t bore you by going over the nuances and small print of rugby league’s eligibilty loopholes.

This just all made me think, what if we took Origin to the extreme. It is already an extreme concept. What other sport on planet earth markets and promotes a glorified all-star series as the pinnacle of the sport?

Instead of New South Wales versus Queensland, why not Brisbane versus Auckland or Yorkshire versus Western Sydney?

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I must admit I am not an expert on the geographical intricacies of each rugby league community around the world. So with a little help from my two good mates, Google and Wikipedia, I have selected sixteen Extreme Origin teams.

I have tried to select each team based on where each player was raised rather than where they were born. But with the way families move around for personal and economic reasons I’m sure there will be plenty of contentious selections with multiple regions claiming players.

I must confess I broke my own rules a couple of times to shoehorn players into regions where they were born rather than raised.

When debating each player’s eligibility you may find it helpful to use rugby league’s age-old eligibility rule: “that’s in Queensland!”

North Queensland
1 Billy Slater (c)
2 Valentine Holmes
3 Justin O’Neill
4 Nene McDonald
5 Kyle Feldt
6 Michael Morgan
7 Ray Thompson
8 Sam Thaiday
9 Kieran Moseley
10 Nate Myles
11 Aidan Guerra
12 Chris Grevsmuhl
13 Jason Taumalolo

14 Anthony Mitchell
15 Scott Bolton
16 Joel Riethmuller
17 Ben Spina

Country Queensland (players from outside North or South Queensland)
1 Ben Barba
2 Corey Oates
3 Cameron Munster
4 Dane Gagai
5 Josh Hoffman
6 Daly Cherry-Evans
7 Ben Hunt
8 Tim Glasby
9 Jake Granville
10 Matt Scott (c)
11 Chris McQueen
12 Gavin Cooper
13 Dave Taylor

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14 Chris Sandow
15 Felise Kaufusi
16 Travis Waddell
17 Maurice Blair

South Queensland (Non Brisbane areas of South Queensland)
1 Darius Boyd (c)
2 Sam Perrett
3 Jack Reed
4 Joel Moon
5 Jordan Rankin
6 Moses Mbye
7 Ashley Taylor
8 Luke Bateman
9 Jake Friend
10 Ben Hannant
11 Ethan Lowe
12 Matt Gillett
13 Kevin Proctor

14 Nathan Friend
15 Alex Glenn
16 Jarrad Wallace
17 Lama Tasi

Brisbane
1 Anthony Milford
2 Edrick Lee
3 Tautau Moga
4 Gerard Beale
5 Corey Thompson
6 Johnathan Thurston
7 Cooper Cronk
8 Josh McGuire
9 Cameron Smith (c)
10 Dylan Napa
11 Josh Papalii
12 Jayson Bukuya
13 Corey Parker

14 Dunamis Lui
15 Daniel Vidot
16 Kurt Baptiste
17 Dave Tyrrell

Northern NSW (North of Sydney)
1 Latrell Mitchell
2 James Roberts
3 Jamie Lyon (c)
4 Greg Inglis
5 Bevan French
6 James Maloney
7 Jarrod Mullen
8 Aidan Tolman
9 Michael Ennis
10 Ryan James
11 Robbie Rochow
12 Boyd Cordner
13 Greg Bird

14 Kurt Gidley
15 Willie Mason
16 Luke Douglas
17 Mitchell Aubusson

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South NSW (South of Sydney)
1 James Tedesco
2 Brett Morris
3 Josh Morris
4 Jack Bird
5 Euan Aitken
6 Jackson Hastings
7 Sam Williams
8 Josh Starling
9 Mitch Rein
10 Trent Merrin
11 Glenn Stewart (c)
12 Tyson Frizell
13 Dale Finucane

14 Korbin Sims
15Tariq Sims
16 Ashton Sims
17 Jack Buchanan

Inland NSW ( West and South West of Sydney)
1 Jack Wighton
2 Justin Carney
3 Blake Ferguson
4 Joel Thompson (c)
5 Charley Runciman
6 Jamie Soward
7 Daniel Mortimer
8 Jordan McLean
9 Cameron King
10 Jack De Belin
11 Isaah Yeo
12 Josh Jackson
13 Ryan Hinchcliffe

14 Glenn Buttriss
15 Tyrone Peachey
16 Jeff Lynch
17 Josh McCrone

Canberra (Canberra/Surrounding area Goulburn etc)
1 Josh Dugan
2 Joel Monaghan
3 Jarrod Croker
4 Willie Tonga
5 Jorge Taufua
6 Todd Carney
7 Terry Campese
8 Shannon Boyd
9 Mitchell Cornish
10 Brenton Lawrence
11 Ryan Hoffman (c)
12 Mark Nicholls
13 Paul Vaughan

14 Dayne Weston
15 Josh Chudleigh
16 Sami Saulima
17 Lachlan Croker

Inner Sydney (North, South and East Sydney)
1 Tom Trbojevic
2 Josh Mansour
3 Will Hopoate
4 Joey Leilua
5 Jason Nightingale
6 Kieran Foran
7 Adam Reynolds
8 Aaron Woods
9 Nathan Peats
10 Kane Evans
11 John Sutton (c)
12 Tom Symonds
13 Jake Trbojevic

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14 Michael Lichaa
15 Martin Taupau
16 Brad Takairangi
17 Adam Cuthbertson

Western Sydney (West and South Western Sydney)
1 Lachlan Coote
2 Dallin Watene Zelezniak
3 Michael Jennings
4 Tim Simona
5 Pat Richards
6 Blake Austin
7 Trent Hodkinson
8 Reagan Campbell Gillard
9 Isaac De Gois
10 David Klemmer
11 Luke Lewis
12 Wade Graham
13 Paul Gallen (c)

14 Bryce Cartwright
15 Andrew Fifita
16 Frank Pritchard
17 Tepai Moeroa

Auckland
1 Roger Tuivasa Sheck
2 Manu Vatuvei
3 Tui Lolohea
4 Steve Matai
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Thomas Leulaui
7 Shaun Johnson
8 Leeson Ah Mau
9 Siliva Havili
10 Jesse Bromwich (c)
11 Sia Soliola
12 Greg Eastwood
13 Elijah Taylor

14 Sam Kasiano
15 Sia Siou Taukeaho
16 Agnatious Paasi
17 Manu Ma’u

New Zealand combined (Non Auckland)
1 Peta Hiku
2 Shaun Kenny-Dowall
3 Dean Whare
4 Jordan Kahu
5 Jordan Rapana
6 TeMaire Martin
7 Benji Marshall
8 Adam Blair
9 Issac Luke
10 Ben Matulino
11 Tohu Harris
12 Bodene Thompson
13 Simon Mannering (c)

14 Jared Waerea Hargreaves
15 James Tamou
16 Lewis Brown
17 Nelson Asofa Solomona

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Pacific Islands (Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa combined)
1 David Mead
2 Marika Koroibete
3 Solomone Kata
4 Semi Radradra
5 Suliasi Vunivalu
6 Israel Eliab
7 Penani Manumalealii
8 Sam Moa (c)
9 James Segeyaro
10 Fui Fui Moi Moi
11 Neville Costigan
12 Rod Griffin
13 Ukuma Ta’ai

14 Paul Aiton
15 Tim Lafai
16 Konrad Hurrell
17 Mark Mexico

Yorkshire
1 Jamie Shaul
2 Ryan Hall
3 Zak Hardaker
4 Leroy Cudjoe
5 Jermaine McGillivray
6 Gareth Widdop
7 Luke Gale
8 Scott Taylor
9 Josh Hodgson
10 George Burgess
11 John Bateman
12 Gareth Ellis
13 Sam Burgess (c)

14 Daryl Clark
15 Elliot Whitehead
16 Tom Burgess
17 Alex Walmsley

North West England (Greater Manchester/Lancashire/Merseyside)
1 Sam Tomkins
2 Joe Burgess
3 Steffan Ratchford
4 Kallum Watkins
5 Dominic Manfredi
6 Kevin Brown
7 Marc Sneyd
8 Chris Hill
9 James Roby
10 James Graham (c)
11 Liam Farrell
12 Ben Currie
13 Sean O’ Loughlin

14 Michael McIlorum
15 Mike Cooper
16 Joel Tomkins
17 Joe Greenwood

Great Britain Combined (Non Northern England)
1 Matty Russell
2 Kieran Dixon
3 Rhys Evans
4 Dan Sarginson
5 Josh Griffin
6 Oscar Thomas
7 Joe Keyes
8 Ben Flower
9 Lloyd White
10 Gil Dudson
11 Mike McMeeken
12 Tony Clubb
13 Louie McCarthy Scarsbrook (c)

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14 Matt Cook
15 George Griffin
16 Ben Evans
17 Rhodri Lloyd

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