Should State of Origin football return?
If it was up to former Melbourne captain and media personality Garry Lyon, it would never have left.
The last serious State of Origin match occurred in 1999 when Victoria faced South Australia in Melbourne at the MCG.
Since, the AFL has hosted one-off games in 2008 (Hall of Fame Tribute Match) and 2020 (State of Origin Bushfire Relief Match) where fans caught a glimpse of what was.
However, given the success of rival code National Rugby League (NRL) in this space, Lyon believes the AFL has wasted the opportunity to put the best players on the park at the same time.
โIt is an unmitigated disgrace that we don't have State of Origin football,โ Lyon said onย SEN.
โI know people say, โyou're flogging a dead horse'.
โIt's an out-and-out disgrace that we don't have it. I'm embarrassed that we don't.
โWe gave it up, we ceded control of the golden ticket and now they're going to wander into our town in the middle of the football season and have 95,000 people watching their State or Origin while we play tiddlywinks in the corner.โ
NRL's State of Origin Game 2 is set to be played at the MCG on June 26, returning to the heartland of Australian Rules Football for the first time since 2018.
In years gone past, the best players from each state would face off to represent where they came from, which excites Lyon if the game were to be played today.
โOn June 26, it's Victoria versus whoever, Harley Reid would be playing for Victoria, Nick Daicos would be playing for Victoria, Zak Butters would be playing for Victoria,โ he continued.
โTell me why we don't have that in our game? It is a disgrace!
โThe clubs' entitled view on things - look beyond it. It's beyond you. Grow this game.
โWe are getting taken over by the game in the northern states in the eyes of the country. We will become a little, small game and code again that pleases ourselves when we had the capacity to please the broader community.
โReid, Daicos, Butters against Gulden, Heeney, Warner, all playing at the elite top level. Their CVs are worse off for not having been able to establish themselves in this game at that level.
โThose that run the game, you have let us down badly.โ
In 2024's edition of Gather Round, the AFL hosted a VFL vs SANFL match in Adelaide as the state leagues took a break.
In a showcase clash, players put their best foot forward to represent their states, something that if AFL players were given the opportunity, would strive for.
Over the past few years, the AFL has been working at cutting down the amount of pre-season games to extend the season.
During its reign between 1977 and 1999, the State of Origin games during the Winter months, meaning it'd take some of the stars of the competition and put them into an extra game.
However, a solution under for this concept to return would be to place the spectacle in the pre-season, to devoid of any concern of injury that clubs may have but also give a perfect curtain-raiser to the upcoming campaign.
This proposal was vindicated in 2020 when Victoria took on the All-Stars in late February in a rare one-off rep match to raise money for those impacted by that summer's devastating bushfires.
In a packed-out Marvel Stadium, 51,052 people flocked to witness the make-do State of Origin, while nearly 70,000 attended the Hall of Fame Tribute Match in 2008.
There's a market for it.
Players of previous generations rate state selection, and playing in state games, as some of the biggest highlights of their careers.
It's about time the current crop got to experience that feeling for themselves on a regular basis.
