Time to reinvent State of Origin

That's rubbish AR. The reason the AFL dropped SOO was because Victoria was too dominant and no meaningful competion between the AFL states could be maintained year on year. The AFL would love to have 3 games a year that rate around the 4 million mark, to say otherwise is ridiculous.

deucer .Did you note the players Easts let go T_ Scheck,Maloney,and good old Pearce gave their membership and the team a great start to the season with "operation puppy dog". I was also surprised at the number of Storm supporters at the G/F given Monday was not a public holiday. When 2018 TV greatly increased money comes in, so too will the development expenditure in Victoria. I do admit ,putting the Storm in 1998 was rushed rather than planned thanks to SL.The grassroots and fans growth may have been greater if done correctly.

Yes, perhaps Parramatta isn't the best example, Easts might be - couple of bad seasons and their average is even worse than GWS! The point is that a club that is forced to move to the bottom of the ladder will not shed as many supporters as a club that is playing poorly for a number of seasons. Think the AFL erred putting another team in QLD when the Lions were doing poorly and weren't being managed well, the bandwaggoners switched clubs hoping for a winning team.

Never suggested continual poor seasons would not affect crowds.That's a no brainer. The Swans will soon find that out,if they have a run of shockers,but they will still have a core of support,even if they had a season's points docked. It's not that easy to just say they will fight the man losing all those points. Unless you are a fan of a club ,and a rusted on one you will go through with them through thick and thin.No better example than the Sharks,a club I followed through many drought years. Some Storm fans burned their jumpers after the scandal,they lost sponsors. Rugby league is a lot more tribal than union(which I earlier followed). Parramatta Deucer is a bad example, in fact their fans stuck solid this year ,despite their ordinary record.Of course bandwaggoners abound in every sport. The fact the salary cap does provide a reasonable balance in competitiveness where teams down the rear can at times knock over the top ones is evidence it is working.The Knights being an exception with virtual U 20 players involved,yet they retained their core of support. The Storm have also benefitted from the salary cap,without resorting to cheating. If they have bad years ,they still get the same grant as everyone else,to buy players. No large sums of extra monies thrown in to support NRL clubs to be competitive. The Lions are in debt $13.5m hardly the AFL success story, we were continually advised as the example.They created their own mess,ask Leigh Matthews.

That's not what I stated Bill. Oh the ref conspiracy theories come out for 1999.The guy who decked the winger Smith who would have scored was deserving of a penalty try. I watched the game more than once on replay and the Dragons beat themselves.I was a neutral. The grand final was on ch9 from memory a non News station. Of all the refs Harrigan was acknowledged among the best by the RL community.I take as much notice of that conspiracy theory ,as i do of Trump's ramblings. I will repeat one more time,the new owners have stated they will not give out freebies willy nilly as done in the past.GWS may well do it,they have the financial backing /largesse to do so,the Storm have to operate as a business with an endeavour to be profitable. If there is any conspiracy theory its the one where the AFL was anxious for either a Sydney AFL win or a Sydney win via the Swans and GWS in the G/F.Or the Dogs winning today ,with all those convenient Swan's behinds.NO one believes it and rightly so.Or the fact the Swans won at the height of the SL war .Anyone can throw these ridiculous theories up,in debates. Scoop!! refs like players make mistakes,deliberate LOL.

And people will get the opportunity to watch the RLWC in this country,NZ and PNG,because it can. No one forcing them to do so.

Willi Mason, Jeremy Smith (retiring tomorrow) born before the first Origin in 1980 Man walked on the moon in 1969, origin started in 1980 ... maybe you shouldn't consider yourself as most people young squidward lol

CC You were wrong of course, the Storm CEO I was talking about was the ex IT guy who took over after the salary cap debacle. I watched the Storm 1999 premiership again last night, the coach said before the game that the News Ltd Storm would run over the top of them. St George led 14-0 and the Storm ran over the top of them to win. Every decision in the last 20 minutes by Harrigan, the first ref signed by News Ltd, went the Storms way - he missed knock-ons, pulled out ridiculous offside calls and I'm not including the penalty try which was legit. Bizarre where was Toovey for the investigation? Gil probably was attending an AFL final like where he is supposed to be - but again you believe everything you read in the media.

People watch Geordie Shore too doesn't mean we should let them vote

Maestro, for Qld anyone is a Queenslander as long as they can twist the rules and make him eligible. The SOO contest is an irrelevant contest that should be contested at the end of the season and not 1/2 way through the NRL competition. Contesting SOO that way would make SOO more interesting and they could have anyone playing for either Qld or NSW or they can include any other state if they desire. As it stands now SOO is affecting allot of sides performances in the NRL competition, as its going now, the Qld/NSW fans will lose interest in the SOO contest and/or the club fans will lose interest in the NRL competition, that is the danger that SOO holds to RL and will be the sad result of holding SOO mid NRL season, its starting to happen now, the NRL crowds are down. Have a look at the AFL, their competition is full of excitement and their crowds are bursting at the seems in comparison to the NRL crowds. SOO had become a very bad interruption to the NRL competition and I'm sure that allot of fans turn off when SOO time comes around which is detrimental to RL overall!!!

There is a huge difference between a forced drop in the ladder and a prolonged slump where the team keeps losing and looks to be rooted at the bottom end. One just has to look at Rangers who were plunged down to the bottom division in Scotland, yet kept their fans, much to the joy of other teams in that division - if they had naturally done down year after year, their support would dwindle. A forced drop helps galvanise fans in a stand against the man, very different scenario to Brisbane Lions or Parramatta who haven't looked like moving up for quite awhile.

I must say I'm a little confused - were the final crowds down or not. Think the AFL finals were down a little bit, having GWS in doesn't help, but you can't chose who you have in the finals, or else you would have the Broncos, Bunnies, Parra, Canterbury making the eight every year - or Collingwood and Richmond in the AFL. The true test of support for the Storm or the Swans will be if they have a losing streak and miss out on the finals for a few years - due to good management and well run clubs, this hasn't happened for quite a while.

Well the Storm could bring in draft picks of the best juniors,give the club additional let's say $20m as a round figure,and then pick Thurston from Nth Queensland pay max money for um 10 years,snuggle up to the Melbourne press for plenty of coverage,that should keep the club in the top 3 for let's say in football terms "eternity" The club was at the bottom of the ladder ,playing for zero points,their fans remained solid.None of their players were stars to start with.No on had a clue about Slater as a kid,nor Cronk,nor the Kiwi forwards. Bellamy develops. All teams lose bandwagon support if they are down the ladder,and that will also apply to the Swans,as it has with the Lions and GCSuns. The level playing field in the NRL has meant more competitive games and fans get a better outcome.Ask Titan's fans ,everyone wrote them off early..Canberra didn't have any superstars.I'm glad we don't have an undemocratic draft after a losing court challenge.On day the AFL may well get a court challenge who knows? And from 2018 it is expected all NRL clubs will at least break even at worst.

The Sydney press is not the NRL.The same Sydney press said a Sharks game was a sellout before hand ,and there was still room at the ground.Do not choose to believe everything you read our hear via the press. In actual fact Greenberg and Grant are attending the AFL G/F.When Gil was invited to one of the Storm's semis,did he attend? I do note AFL 360 has Cam Smith on quite often,because he has a favourite AFL team Hawthorn ,continually brings it up.Not used for PR LOL. Crown Casino who sponsor the Storm,and want custom from Melburnians (majority of whom follow AFL),who woulda thought ......sigh. The 18,000 are paid members ,just like any football club they would have Interstate or regional members.Hardly a scoop.Hell the vast majority of GWS members are from Canbraaaa.And there are plenty of freebies in West Sydney ,ask the local school teachers. It's a nonsense to suggest they used to count 18,000 Storm members in the past,they never approached that level. They averaged nearly 15,000 this year ,not that long ago lucky to average 8-9,000.Small by Vic standards but a decent increase with a Salary Cap scandal and little media support. As to freebies!!! you really have not being following it too much.The new Storm owners have openly stated the club will, not be into handing out freebies willy nilly as previously happened..No names ,but Waldron obviously.This Waldron the same clown who stated EVERY NRL club was cheating the cap. School kid gets caught"everyone's doing it excuse".The bleeding Sharks couldn't even get to the cap,nor the Titans. Seriously some generalisations and wrong info and assumptions in your post mate.

If people get off their backsides ,they no doubt will. I applaud your enthusiasm.

Wait till drop down the ladder although the equalizing NRL means they will only be 2 games from the finals..

At last a test at home wow progress next thing you know the RL will play one in Sydney...

The Sydney press said repeatedly the first 2 games were sellouts - what gives. You didn't note AFL 360 pressing the NRL flesh on AFL GF eve - I think it was a crown casino ad...Those 18,000 members are the ones they used to count and probably still do even when they don't turn up - and they give away plenty of freebies - according to former CEO who took over after salary cap scandal. (AFR 2014)

I noticed on the Rugby Union section there is an article titled can All Black dominance make Rugby boring ?..maybe AB's should play in the SOO as well now people would pay to see that or a AB's/NZ team against a Kangaroo's/Wallabies combined team ?.

Further ,Samoa will be playing a test on home soil again Fiji on October 8th. And an initial squad of players for Tonga for the RLWC has been announced including players from the Warriors,ESL clubs,as well as NRL and QLd Cup players.West Sydney seems hardly appropriate.