How to revive the AFL State of Origin

Around this time of year every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to have an opinion on the State of Origin debate, so it’s time for me to throw in my two cents.

I was unfortunate enough to be too young to witness the interstate rivalries in its glorious heyday, and I rely on nostalgic grainy footage and yarns from Dad to fill my void. My only taste was in 2008 when the concept made a return to celebrate 150 years of Australian Rules football.

In that year I got to see some of the best share the field and the Big V ‘stick it right up ’em’, triumphing by 17 points in a 39-goal epic encounter.

Would we all like to see that sort of game every year, but of course we probably won’t.

The AFL would love another couple of hundred thousand bums on seats, but with sport becoming more and more of a business, clubs are reluctant to risk their main assets to an injury that could derail a whole season. Player management also becomes a factor, as does fixturing and the byes. Let’s discuss these one by one.

Injuries
Injuries can happen at any time and any place. Let’s talk about the obscene random and ridiculous first that have happened off the field. In previous years.

• Dean Rampe broke his arm on concrete trying to jump a chain during a morning run.
• Brad Ottens missed games after impaling himself on a garden stake after falling from a tree putting up a hammock, and he also made contact with a propeller of a motorboat while waterskiing.
• Michael Voss almost lost a finger trying to attach a trailer to his car.
• Steve Johnson needed surgery after rupturing a tendon trying to get into his bag to answer his phone.
• Zac Clarke injured his PCL while at Falls Festival in Lorne.
• David Spriggs, also in Lorne, jumped from a ledge at a pub at night, landed awkwardly on a beach and missed all of 2002 with a knee injury.
• Levi Greenwood broke his big toe when he got it caught in his trackies and twisted it walking down the stairs.
• Sharrod Wellingham ‘landed awkwardly’ while bouncing on a trampoline and did some damage to ligaments in his ankle.
• Brad Johnson got hit by a golf cart at training carrying drinks.
• Archie Smith, Daniel Kerr and Jarrad Grant have all had injuries after coming into contact with a stingray.

(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Sure, the likelihood of these injuries off-field are pretty slim, but you only have to look at this season, when Christian Petracca missed games due to a dog bite and Callum Mills hasn’t played since Round 9 because he was throwing an American football on the way back from a cafe and tripped and fell to see that they can and will happen.

And what about injuries at training? Every week a player is ruled out due to ‘pulling up sore’ from a session on a training track or, even worse, suffering a sprain, strain or the dreaded ACL. You only have to cast your mind back to March when Swans big man Sam Naismith did exactly that and was ruled out for the whole 2018 season.

Players can also injure themselves playing in the state leagues, which many would be doing during the AFL bye rounds to try to maintain fitness or match simulation in the comeback of an injury setback.

We could talk about every player this season who has injured them self at training or in the state leagues, but we would be here all day, the majority of the story is that injuries don’t just happen in round matches of AFL football.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Fixturing and byes
The main debate is that if representative football were to occur, when would it be played? Some people like the idea of having it before the season starts as a curtain-raiser, while other people like it at the end of the season after the business is done, that way if injuries occur, players have time to recover.

There are strong cases for and against both of these time frames, but I like smack bang right in the middle of the season.

The current bye system is flawed. Not only is it a fan’s, tipper’s and fantasy player’s nightmare, it gives some teams fresher legs towards the later part of the season, so if we really want to all to be on an even playing field, we should all have the same weeks off, right?

Team could have the first two weeks of June off, which this season would be rounds 11 and 12.

“But what about the lack of football in those weeks?” you may ask. The Week 1 fixture could comprise:

• Indigenous All Stars on Thursday night
• AFL State of Origin on Friday night
• Under 18s State of Origin match on Saturday

This would give the players playing in the match between 14 and 16 days off and the players not playing between 21 and 23 days off, which is more than they get now with their current one-week bye.

It’s enough time to nurse and recover most minor injuries, and it also gives the AFL the chance to continue with its Round 10 match overseas ‘trial’.

This fixure would also give the AFL community a chance to showcase the cream of the crop for the next stage of rising stars on the big stage to see who we can look forward to next year.

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The Week 2 fixure could comprise:

• Hall of fame dinner and announcement on Thursday
• EJ Whitten Legends match on Friday
• AFLW State of Origin on Saturday

This would be a chance to showcase the talent on offer from the AFLW as well as filling a void with the light-hearted relief of the EJ Whitten Legends match.

It also allows the AFL to showcase other areas of our great game. By having the hall of fame, AFLW, and under-18s over these weekends it gets to showcase and acknowledge the achievements of past players, future players and the Indigenous and women’s game while the AFL is on a break, allowing them to take centre stage, as there is always so much going on these events are often in the shadows when they deserve a much brighter spotlight.

There are a lot of injuries that occur in football, but the most common soft tissue injury in AFL is that of a hamstring and the most common impact injury is a concussion. How long a player is out with a hamstring dependends on the grade. A Grade 1 hammy has you looking at one to two weeks, a Grade 2 is likely two to three games and a Grade 3 is four to six weeks.

Therefore a player who pulls a hamstring in the State of Origin match would not miss a game for a low-grade tear, and a medium to high-grade tear would see them miss only a couple of weeks. Likewise with concussion, it gives the player sufficient time to pass the medical tests and get themselves right.

It also allows for a three-week break for those who are not playing, giving them time to really sort out any ongoing niggles and giving the team a chance to shrink their injury lists sufficient to allow them a greater chance to have more players available on the park.

(Matt King/Getty Images)

Two leagues the AFL needs to follow are NRL and NBA.

Being from a non-rugby state I never knew how incredible State of Origin was until I was in Queensland for a series. It is an absolute honour to be chosen and represent either the Blues or Maroons, and not only do players want to play, the clubs release them and let them play. This year is also the first women’s State of Origin match, which was an overwhelming success.

The NBA this season consisted of 82 games – 41 home and 41 away. I know everyone will be saying how NBA games are shorter, less physical, less demanding, with less contact, indoors et cetera, but that is still a lot of regular-season games. What I like about the NBA is the fact they make their All Star weekend a showcase event with things like the Celebrity game, a rising stars game, the hall of fame announcement, three-point, slam dunk and skills competitions and of course the All Star game.

If we could take something from both of these competitions, I think the AFL would be better for it.

We are always trying to grow our game and showcase it – as we should; it is bloody fantastic – but the fact we do not currently have a representative all-star showcase format is something that is lacking, and as a fan and a supporter I think it’s about time we brought it back and kept it here for good rather than worrying about the negatives.

If we started to think more along the lines of how good it could be to see the stars shine on what could be the brightest stage of all, we’d be better off for it.