State of Origin is dead, buried and cremated in the AFL, and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean representative football as a concept should be.
From 2017, the AFL should include an All-Star Carnival in its celebration week before the start of finals.
I’m not a big rugby league man – probably due to my lack of geographic proximity to the code and familial upbringing that was very clear as to what constitutes footy – but from afar I can tell State of Origin is a pretty big deal in league circles.
So much so, in fact, that it has become something of a travelling circus. The second game of the 2019 Origin series is set to be played at the new Perth stadium, despite the State’s brief flirtation with rugby league winding up in 1997.
The AFL canned the concept in 1999, largely because of the AFL’s drive to create a more national competition effectively cannibalised its parochial fervour. A one-off, branded a Hall of Fame tribute match, was played in 2008 as part of the AFL’s centenary-and-a-half celebrations, which the Victorian side won over an all-state Dream Team 137 to 120.
Like a certain economic policy championed by the free market wing of the Liberal Party in Australia, the AFL has slapped the “dead, buried, cremated” sticker on a return to the idea. But that didn’t stop the annual flood of ‘2016 AFL State of Origin Teams’ and ‘Why We Need State of Origin in the AFL’ stories after this season’s NRL State of Origin.
Sorry folks, it ain’t coming back.
But that doesn’t mean representative football should continue to be cast off completely. Indeed, with the AFL’s post-Round 23 bye having morphed from “device to stop teams resting players in Round 23” to “celebration of football at all levels” at some point this year, there’s a window for something new and interesting.
Say what you will about the bye – that it is pointless, ineffective, a momentum killer, a gross over-reaction to a non-problem, the devil incarnate – it does certainly open up a world of possibilities for League HQ.
This season, they decided that in the weekend off, Friday night would see the annual EJ Whitten Legend’s Game, and Saturday a Women’s Exhibition Match. Some fiddling with the dates of other end-of-season events has meant the slate in the 12 days between the end of Round 23 and the start of the finals series is somewhat full, but to me, there’s an opportunity to go farther.
The AFL should introduce an end-of-season All Star carnival.
Why? Because, well, why not? As it stands, there is no vehicle for the AFL’s best players to showcase their skills and abilities beyond their play on weekends throughout the season. There are no “higher honours” that represent anything other than words to be engraved on club honour boards once a career finishes.
The All Australian team in any given year is merely for name. Yes, the International Rules series team is now only to comprise of players previously named All Australian, but that is besides the point.
Above all else, a celebration of Australian rules football, which is what this week off is now being sold as, deserves some sort of showcase of the best the game has to offer.
A drawback to doing this in the week between Round 23 and the first week of finals would be the dilution of the talent pool resulting from clubs preparing for finals sitting on the sidelines. That’s definitely a problem, but not one that kills the concept; there’s a stack of top shelf talent sitting on teams that won’t be participating in finals this year.
What would it involve? We can look to the NBA for answers here. There are many parallels between America’s pro basketball league and the AFL: the athleticism required, the spectacular highlights, and a strong balance between team and individual. The NBA’s All-Star weekend has a number of events spread over a weekend, which culminate in a game played between two teams (one representing each conference) that are mostly voted for by the league’s fans.
Events in the lead up include a dunk contest, skills contest, three point contest, celebrity all-star game and a rookie all-star game. In the end, the all-star game itself has become something of a lesser event when compared to the more discrete competitions.
The AFL could do something similar to this – its not like the AFL to pinch concepts from American sports and shoehorn them in, right? – with a focus on discrete events leading into some kind of showcase game.
There are a plethora of possibilities with the discrete events: a goal kicking competition, a marking contest, a skills contest centred on hitting targets by hand and foot. Fox Footy has already dipped its toe into these waters, with their ‘Longest Kick’ competition on grand final day last year.
(I thought it was an excellent concept that was executed well, and is something that I hope Fox brings back this year)
That could run on the Friday night post Round 23. The EJ Whitten Legends Game can remain part of these festivities, given many of those that line up are already more from the world beyond football, but it would shift to Saturday or Sunday. All of the state league finals can remain loosely tied to the concept, and retain their broadcast status in their local markets as will be the case this year.
The weekend would culminate in some form of condensed all-star game, pitting teams of 22 players selected from the non-finalists teams against each other in a shortened game, not unlike this season’s NAB Challenge where games lasted 120 minutes. To build some hype, the league might consider holding a draft like the NFL do for their Pro Bowl, with high profile “list managers” holding the reigns.
As an added incentive, players participating in the weekend could be paid some form of monetary bonus, carved from the rights to broadcast the festivities on TV and radio. Proceeds from the gate could be donated to charity, and the league could find any number of other ways to monetise the concept (‘Team Sheeds’ jumpers, anyone?).
This has been a whole lot of thinking aloud on my part. I’m interested in what you think. If the league has created this end of season bye, and has now crab-walked their way to calling it an end of season celebration week, why don’t we do some actual celebrating of what makes the AFL the best sporting league in the country?
Ants32
Roar Rookie
15 a side, 20 minute quarters. No time on. Deep bench. Ten maybe? One game in the bye weekend. Mini draft like the pro bowl. Second game with a second round draft as the GF curtain raiser. Increasing the available players by 6 teams. It could work but it would take a lot of time, consideration, thought and planning. None of which are AFL House renowned for. Long kicking, speed kicking comps are a no-brainer. Deffo like the Harlem Globetrotters concept. Reckon it would happen anyway with audience participation in the selection process. Just a few random thoughts to throw into the mix. :/
James
Guest
Brian that won't work. So if a player gets injured or suspended in round 23, does that mean in the play off week the team need to play with 21 players or less, as if you don't play round 23 you don't play in the play off? Based on that theory, If the Bulldogs vs saints game last week was round 23, and Bulldogs vs Geelong last night was a play off game, then Bulldogs would have had to play with just 17 players...
David C
Guest
Tearing an ACL does not require high intensity. The simple act of stepping to change direction can do it. It doesn't need to be a collision of any sort. Trust me, I did mine many years ago with a non-collision step and I still remember the pain.
Paul D
Roar Guru
The reasons are in the discussion mate. You're the one agitating to change the status quo (I am assuming from your tone that you want to bring back state of origin) so surely the onus is on you to provide reasons as to why it should return, and address the numerous and in my view insurmountable obstacles to its return.
uncle boo-boo
Guest
"State of Origin is dead, buried and cremated in the AFL, *and for good reason*." Name it/them. And 'Out of respect for Ted Whitten's memory' or 'It's not worth risking injuries' aren't; just getting that out of the way before anything else.
bilo
Guest
" State representation used to mean something – with a national competition, it doesn’t." So why then does the NRL still have State of Origin? No matter how well the Broncos or Cowboys or Titans go they wil never replace or even compete with the QLD team in the eyes of fans north of the Tweed. The two (club and state comps) can co-exist. Maybe the QLD'ers were just more parochial than the AFL states.
InkyBill
Guest
Spot on, if it's not a serious rep side no-one cares. Just Vic WA and SA. Two teams could play for a cup, the winner getting the right to defend it the next year against the team that didn't play the previous. Then a state could potentially have a streak like Qld in the league, and build some serious rivalry.
Redb
Roar Guru
Maybe reduce the number of players to reduce congestion and keep the quarters to 15 mins.
BigAl
Guest
What MAY. . . possibly work is an AFL All-Stars Review ! Get the selected players to dress up as Can Can dancers and have them put on a mass high kicking performance on The Footy Show in Grand Final week. It would rate it's butt off ! In fact I seem to recall something like this happening years ago, with Big Damian Monkhorst of Collingwood absolutely killing it ! And now, who could forget the outstanding individual Brownlow worthy performances of David Rodan ?
Paul D
Roar Guru
Game played in October, and a player who does an ACL is recovered by December...righto
Xavier Smith
Roar Rookie
Given I recently contributed to this year's State of Origin word dump, I'll only add that scarcity is the key to any representative/All-Star game. It might work if held every few years.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
I think it's a bit naive to think that the players would be playing at regular intensity. The 2008 Tribute game was 137 to 120, about 34% above the average game total for that year, and it was played with seven on the bench.
David C
Guest
I can just imagine how the clubs and fans would react if one of the game's top players injured an ACL in a meaningless game like this. It's a stupid idea that should never see the light of day again.
AR
Guest
Oh Ryan. Heavens no!
mds1970
Roar Guru
It's an interesting concept, and you'd have to play it during that week with non-finals players only. Of course there's the chance that non-finals players with even the slightest niggle will have already goine into surgery; and there's also the question of whether non-finals players would be prepared to postpone Mad Monday until a week later than their team-mates so they can play in this. Or whether there'd be a "general soreness" epidemic. But it's an interesting concept. Maybe it could work, but I'm sceptical whether there'd be much interest.
Gecko
Guest
There are actually heaps of possibilities: 1. Tom's idea, which is kind of 'harlem globe trotters', more for entertainment than a serious contest. 2. Best of the retired players, forming 2 teams or playing for their state. If there were no prize for winning, this may end up being more for entertainment than a serious contest. 3. Best players in the AFL, except those in the top 3 teams. play this game in the week prior to the GF. Financial inducements would make sure most players were keen. Clubs would be slightly happier because virtually any injuries could be overcome by xmas. 4. Best players in the AFL, except those who opt out. Play this game in the week after the GF. Financial inducements would make sure most players were keen. Clubs would be slightly happier because virtually any injuries could be overcome by xmas. Options 3 and 4 would be good for footy fans and good for those players who wanna be tested at a higher level.
Mark Haywood
Roar Pro
Don’t think it’s fair to say the Allies killed Origin. It was an innovation to maybe give it some life / rationalise it I think. It didn’t work, but SOO was on death row anyway. It took a bit of time, but the national competition killed it.
Tricky
Guest
Serious lists there and I like it, problem is that it (in fact any idea of a game or exhibition) needs an all in from the players, clubs, HQ and the AFLPA There'd have to be some sort of incentive for all involved for example for a club maybe a draft pick or draft points for a players team that goes BOG in their respective "exhibition" game (obviously this would need some ironing out of variables). As far as the PA would go they'd want some sort of "compensation" For HQ I think the reward would already be there - surely better than what's coming this year. For the players to be fair dinkum there'd have to be monetary reward from HQ (outside of salary cap) or an exhibition sponsor and for the fans maybe a SOO feel to it, for example have 3 games. They'd "represent" their state Vic v Tas WA v SA QLD v NSW Highest percentage wins, then the next year we rotate the teams say Vic v WA, NSW v SA & QLD v Tas and the BOG (so 3 points or picks up for grab) may win a pick or points for draft pick for their cub then rotate the "fixture" every year. Food for thought at least, maybe mull it over and you could table something to Gill - there's been some very good suggestions from the roarers so far! The only issue with my idea is that the absolute elite for each representing state are not on show - they're in the upcoming finals!
Cameron Rose
Expert
The players love the idea of it more than the practicality. The players killed off SOO. And clubs will resist. If you don't get 100% buy in, you might as well have 0%. Tom's idea isn't the worst though.
Baz
Guest
Why don't you do an all start team vs the Natives team ?