The case for adding a NZ team to State of Origin

[Bobby DIGital]

Tbh we would win every year so it wouldn't be fair on Qld or NSW.

 

[Rising from the Ashes]

So add a international side into a state based showdown... dumbest thing I've ever heard.

 

[Sime_11]

better off doing a North v South island Origin for NZ

that said International RL is the future - everything else has already been milked to the maximum

 

[RecordBreakingMaroons.]

So add a international side into a state based showdown... dumbest thing I've ever heard.

'Suck it up': Radical idea shot down by legends

'Absolutely no way'

www.nine.com.au

Especially when 40% of the revenue which underpins the club competition, junior development and expansion is directly derived from NSW vs QLD State Of Origin.

It is the game's Golden Goose.

Only a bigger goose suggests that they have a better plan. AFL looked at cashing in on the concept. It sank like the Titanic. Non- NSW vs QLD contests would do the same. The rivalry is strictly Rugby League and strictly NSW vs QLD.

Other concepts may be floated in the future but none will have the cachet of NSW vs QLD. It is now as enshrined as THE pinnacle of Rugby League worldwide. Watched by people with little interest in NRL or even Rugby League because on a smaller scale it has become a spectacle like a Tour De France or Football World Cup Final. Both of which are watched by audiences who don't regularly watch bicycle racing nor Soccer.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

'Suck it up': Radical idea shot down by legends

'Absolutely no way'

www.nine.com.au

Especially when 40% of the revenue which underpins the club competition, junior development and expansion is directly derived from NSW vs QLD State Of Origin.

It is the game's Golden Goose.

Only a bigger goose suggests that they have a better plan. AFL looked at cashing in on the concept. It sank like the Titanic. Non- NSW vs QLD contests would do the same. The rivalry is strictly Rugby League and strictly NSW vs QLD.

Other concepts may be floated in the future but none will have the cachet of NSW vs QLD. It is now as enshrined as THE pinnacle of Rugby League worldwide. Watched by people with little interest in NRL or even Rugby League because on a smaller scale it has become a spectacle like a Tour De France or Football World Cup Final. Both of which are watched by audiences who don't regularly watch bicycle racing nor Soccer.

....plus we're better than Queensland and NSW combined (30-0).

 

[RecordBreakingMaroons.]

Combining NSW and QLD is a weaker team than QLD alone in my opinion.

 

[RecordBreakingMaroons.]

I'd be fine with the winner of Origin playing the best of the Rest Of The World after the ROTW have competed, outside of Origin, to win the right to play the Origin winner. But it would have to be completely separate to the three Origin games and scheduled at a different time of year.

There isn't one code, nor category of Sport in Australia which wouldn't love to have a spectacle like SOO. Rugby would love it. AFL too. Australian Soccer might do it one day but for the here and now the peak sporting event in Australia is Origin. It pulls in people who won't watch Rugby League generally.

 

[RecordBreakingMaroons.]

....plus we're better than Queensland and NSW combined (30-0).

Once in a blue moon.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Once in a blue moon.

We have won 5 different tournaments since 2005.

We would maul Qld every time. You can't even fill a team without picking kiwis.

 

[RecordBreakingMaroons.]

5 in 19 years. Who won the other 14?

 

[SBD82]

Every thread suggesting radical changes to Origin is dumb.

And the people who start them are dumb.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

5 in 19 years. Who won the other 14?

Well Australia won 7. The other years Australia decided not to compete. Do you even pay attention to what's going on outside of QueeNZland?

So the score is 7-5. Congrats on that, but that's a lot more than once a blue moon. We just thrashed you 30-0. Australia is scared to play us in a 3 match series.

Also, can you please explain to me how the Queensland state side is better than the Australian national side? I'm all ears.

P.S. - @MRN you're a bitch.

 

[Reflector]

I know it has already been tried in Super League in 1997 but the landscape is completely different now.

Adding a NZ team to Origin would work...

Reason 1
New Zealand have the quality and depth that would allow them to compete hard with NSW and QLD....

1. Manu / CNK / RTS (Quality and depth)
6. Brown / Foran (Quality and depth)
7. Hughes and Johnson (Quality and depth)
9. Cheese / JMK (Quality and depth)
FR. JFH and Leota are two of the best in the NRL

Reason 2
New Zealand is our third heartland after NSW and QLD and the game is growing in popularity there. Other than a second NRL team and getting the Kiwis to play at home more, this is a great way to get more NZ eyeballs on RL. Origin has a massive marketing budget that international RL just doesn't have. This is a fantastic way to build up the interest in a Kiwi rep team outside of the Warriors.

Reason 3
It would massive help the NZ Kiwis which would help generate interest in the international game. Gives NZ selectors four more games every year to build combos etc and gives

Reason 4
Origin will eventually lose its lustre if it doesn't evolve (I know, I know its king right now but it could get stale in the future). A NZ team builds on traditional rivalries that are already there. Acknowledges NZ as a key heartland, comes, with a ready made large Kiwi fanbase on both sides of the Tasman and could really fire up NZ seeing their side beat NSW and QLD and maybe even winning Origin titles. Essentially it breathes new life into the concept. Maintains the QLD v NSW rivalry but adds the trans Tasman rivalry element into the mix.

Now for those saying... no, let's just play more tests. I would love that too, but it's clear with the amount of footy being played that we'll never get an international window larger than 4-5 weeks at the end of the season. This is a chance to give the Kiwis more rep opportunities and build the status of rep football in the eyes of NZ players and fans.

Now, my proposal is not the NZ Kiwis playing Origin. It is a separate rep team, the NZ Origin team. The eligibility for the team will line up with Origin eligibility rules which means the Tongan and Samoans can play for NZ Origin (giving them access to Origin and engaging the Samoan and Tongan fans) but still playing international footy for the Island teams (Taumololo is a prime example of this).

The team would be run and selected by the NZRL so they can choose to keep the core of the Kiwis team together for the benefit of the international side and / or add the best NZ eligible Tongans and Samoans where it boosted the side.

Format:
Play each team home and away. QLD home is at Suncorp, NSW home at Accor, NZ home at Eden Park. Then a final which gets sold to the highest bidder (similar to how the third Origin game is sold at the moment.

Love this idea, only change is:

Add PNG.

 

[Brutus]

No, no and no.

 

[Éamonn an Chnoic]

The lesson we should be taking from origin is the value of the 3 match series.

It is a perfect build up to make us care (womens origin 3 will be enormous!). A one-off just comes out of nowhere and is gone.

End of season, Roos-Kiwis is easy except that no one would commit the time.

mid season, they would need to find another opponent and run it at the same time as origin; NZ-PNG would go nuts if the new team develops a good local group.

 

[blue bags]

NZ state of Origin
North island V's South island
Or NZ vs Pasifika
Combined Pacific islanders team
PNG. Cook islands. Samoa. Tonga. Fiji