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We can’t talk about a new season of rugby league and NRL without talking about State of Origin – can the mighty maroons make it six in a row?  How brilliant would that be?  It would almost make up for all those defeats pre Origin – no it wouldn’t.

In 1980, big Artie made State Of Origin what it is today – the best sporting contest on the Australian sporting calendar.  Last year Coach Aaron from Fazzies Cougars posted a comment in response to our NEX league –

“It’s like origin, it will never die.”

That got me thinking of how we could introduce a State Of Origin concept into NEX.  We will never recreate what the real State Of Origin gives us but with passionate Dream Team coaches in our midst, we have an opportunity to create something unique to NEX and give our best coaches something else to play for.

The Concept
This will run along the same time line as the real State of Origin.  Coaches are selected to represent their state based on the best overall averages at the time of the designated selection rounds.  You don’t have to do anything extra, we only use the official scores posted by your own Dream Team in the designated origin rounds.

The best QLD and NSW coaches in NEX will compete for State of Origin Dream Team supremacy.  Coaches will play as a team, the highest average of the combined score posted by all state coaches will decide the winner of each SOO round.

For this to work we need a balance of QLD and NSW coaches.  NEX State of Origin gives our coaches something else to play for and be part of a team effort to take down their archenemy across the border.

This is a trial concept, it all depends on interest from coaches as to whether the concept extends beyond one game and becomes a best of three series each year.

Basic Rules

The full set of rules will be published later in the season, well before the first NEX SOO match is played.

  • A minimum of 4 coaches from each state for the concept to go a head with a maximum of 13 coaches from each state involved (the latter would be better = 26 NEX Coaches involved)
  • Coaches selected across all NEX leagues based on the best average at the time of selection
  • NEX SOO round/s will be played the NRL Dream Team round immediately after the real State of Origin game
  • Official NRL DT scores posted by coaches with their own Dream Team in the designated rounds count – the highest average of the combined scores for each team in each round will decide the winner of the round and ultimately the series

If it gains enough interest then it will become a permanent fixture on the NEX calendar for years to come.

All I need from our coaches is to post a comment – if you are interested in taking part leave;

  • Your Coach name as it appears on the NEX ladder
  • Your NRL Dream Team name
  • The name of the NEX league you are in
  • NSW or QLD – the state you passionately support in the real State of Origin

You have until the round 4 lock out to respond.  If there isn’t enough interest then it wont get up.