{"id":301221,"date":"2023-05-28T00:38:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-28T00:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301221"},"modified":"2023-05-28T02:59:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T02:59:11","slug":"jealous-icon-blames-afl-clubs-for-death-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301221","title":{"rendered":"'Jealous' icon blames AFL clubs for death of Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> great Joel Selwood<\/a> believes clubs are to blame for the code's inability to capture the State of Origin magic in the same way the NRL has.<\/p>\n

While the State of Origin<\/a> series between Queensland and New South Wales remains the pinnacle of the NRL season, the AFL does not have its own annual representative competition.<\/p>\n

Origin in the AFL peaked during the late 80s and 90s but the annual event was discarded after 1999.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Nine adds former captain to Ashes commentary line-up<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Joey hails State of Origin referee appointment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Since the official competition ended, there have been two representative clashes, one in 2008 to mark 150 years of Australian football and another in 2020 to raise money for Australian bushfire victims. Both matches have been played between Victoria and an All-Stars squad comprised of players from the other states.<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

Selwood, who played in the 2008 match as a 19-year-old,\ufeff placed the blame of AFL's Origin demise on the clubs.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWe lost State of Origin purely because of the professionalism of club land. They looked at us as investments and they sort of didn't want us going so hard," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI had one chance of playing State of Origin back in 2008, so I was a 19-year-old. It probably didn't justify where State of Origin was in the decades before that.<\/p>\n

"I think of (Gary) Ablett Sr and (Tony) Lockett in the same side, in the same forward line, coming up against the South Australian side that was quite dominant at the time too.<\/p>\n

"When it got to an All-Star (team) versus Victoria, it probably didn't have that click as much. I feel a little bit jealous of what we see out there (in the NRL version)."<\/p>\n

\"Cooper<\/p>\n

Billy Slater<\/a>, who has represented Queensland as both a player and a coach, explained why the NRL has been able to find success in the representative arena.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI think it's something instilled in you before you get to be a professional. It's something you grow up dreaming of and wanting to do," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"I still remember my favourite footy jersey when I was a kid was a Maroon one. The Maroons were an inspiration to me when I was a kid and they're an inspiration to more than five million people up in Queensland.<\/p>\n

"Children, adults, grandparents, school teachers, people who work in the mines, people in the nursing homes. This team is a real inspiration and I think that's where it starts.<\/p>\n

"Although the NRL is a professional business, players are a business now, I don't think they've lost that passion on State of Origin."<\/p>\n

\"Gagai,<\/p>\n

While Selwood, who retired after a fourth premiership with Geelong at the end of last season, said clubs didn't want players to play in representative fixtures, he said players weren't blameless either.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhen I saw game three last year in the first three minutes, I think of the investment of being a 34-year-old at the same time and going, 'Geez, I'm not putting my body out there'," he said.<\/p>\n

"There were three concussions if I remember correctly and that's game-changing, but it's also season-changing for the sides that they're going back to, so it's really hard."<\/p>\n

"When you use your head too much and you think about it too much, it becomes like that," Slater said in response.<\/p>\n

"In our game, the players use their heart and think with their heart and that's where it's got to, where it's a like a double-edged sword.<\/p>\n

"Sure they can be repercussions of playing representative football … but you go away in those environments and you come back a better player.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL great Joel Selwood believes clubs are to blame for the code's inability to capture the State of Origin magic in the same way the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301221"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301226,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301221\/revisions\/301226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/301223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}