How good is State of Origin.
Despite not having a game for almost 20 years, the concept is always a popular one among fans, and increasingly among players too.
The final game between interstate representative sides was in 1999 between Victoria and South Australia, with the Vics winning by 54 points in front of 26,063 at the MCG.
Down at the Zero Hanger offices, we began talking about what it would be like to bring the competition back, and how it would be structured.
Without taking away from the AFL, we decided just four sides would compete in the new-style competition; Western Australia, South Australia, Vic Metro and Vic Country.
To make things a little more interesting, we thought we’d choose a best 22 for each state, beginning with our Vic Country side on Thursday (which you can find here), our WA side on Friday morning (here), and Vic Metro side on Friday night (here).
Today, we look at our final squad, South Australia.
SA's best 22
FB: Shannon Hurn, Heath Grundy, Brodie Smith
HB: Rory Laird, Phil Davis (c), Andrew Mackie
C: Hamish Hartlett, Bernie Vince, Ryan Griffen
HF: Daniel Menzel, Justin Westhoff, Chad Wingard
FF: Eddie Betts, Orazio Fantasia, Shane Edwards
R: Sam Jacobs, Bryce Gibbs, Lachie Neale
Interchange: Paul Puopolo, Danyle Pearce, Caleb Daniel, Brodie Grundy
Notable absentees: Sam Day, James Aish, Luke Dunstan, Jared Polec
Check back in tonight for our recap of all four sides and our predictions for the competition.