by Grahaml » Thu May 29, 2008 6:11 pm
It's about time someone said it, but State of Origin was a short lived fad. How many teams have represented the SANFL compared to SA state of origin? It was a response to our players choosing to play in the strongest comp they could, the VFL, and to appease the anger/disappointment of the public along with the slight pang of regret that those players could no longer play in front of friends and family (and perhaps their home state fans). State of Origin was an 80s thing. It kept gonig into the 90s because some of the 80s games were great games. It died because the public, players AND clubs stopped caring about it so much. It worked in the 80s because we had a good group of SA players who could compete with Victoria. It worked because every now and then we could see Kernahan, Bradley and Platten (to name a few) tearing up footy park once more. it appeased us, the players and the clubs let it happen because it was a way of making sure their players didn't get too home sick. The AFL solved all those problems. And SA started to get hammered because the VICs were far too strong.
Let State of Origin die. It has NO place in the game anymore. There is no fair format to play this. If you want an elite game, all players have to be able to play. SA vs VIC means WA, QLD, TAS, NSW etc can't have their players playing. A knockout comp is too taxing and takes too much time. A round robin comp is worse! The dream team game was the fairest solution. Half the players come from Victoria, and half the best 50 players come from victoria as well. And it's the simplest way to separate the best 50 players into 2 reasonably even teams. No state of origin format works. And our game is not suited to an "elite" game. Look at the most developed contact sports competitions in the world. Name me one that pits representative teams against each other outside their regular competition with ANY modicum of a successful competition. NFL has a pro bowl, but it's a mickey mouse holiday competition. No soccer leagues do it. Rugby does, but I don't think that's a well developed code. NBA has their all star game, but the risks of injury are minimal, and the players STILL don't take it seriously.
