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The one move that would re-energise the AFL pre-season

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Roar Guru
3rd March, 2019
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The JLT Community Series and AFLX are just fancy ways for players to warm up. But the AFL could transform the lacklustre pre-season with one simple move.

The call for State of Origin at the start of the AFL year is growing louder and louder, and surely the noise has to start making waves within the offices of the AFL’s biggest powerbrokers.

The term State of Origin is synonymous with NRL, but the call to ‘bring back the biff’ in the AFL is gaining more and more traction every year.

The last State of Origin game was in 1999. The showcase event used to bring together the best players from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and an Alliance team from the rest of the country. The interstate rivalry brought biff and displayed the the best talent from each state talent.

Origin hasn’t existed for two decades, but fans have made their voice heard and called for the return of this marquee event.

In 2008 Victoria and a ‘Dream Team’ played off in a one-off match to honour the late great EJ Whitten and celebrate 150 years of Australian football.

Two current superstars – Scott Pendlebury and Gary Ablett – have led calls to bring back the Origin game, which represents a significant push.

The biggest question is when to play the game, and whether it will attract the fans once the concept is a reality.

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The NRL has played its Origin games in the middle of the season every year, so there are no scheduling clashes finals fixtures come the pointy end of the season. With the AFL’s main venue being the prestigious MCG, pushing the grand final back would clash with the upcoming cricket season and cause headaches for everyone.

As for the crowd, the 2008 match drew 69,294 fanatical footy fans to the MCG. This wasn’t even an Origin clash, but saw the mighty Victorians face off against an All Stars team made up of interstate players. The game was a massive hit with fans and players, and started the calls to bring back the series.

On a more professional level, player recognition is at the top of the agenda with many players’ hard work not being chosen for All-Australian selection. However, an Origin series would mean more than just 22 players could be recognised for their contribution on the field that would otherwise go unnoticed.

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