Would Western Australia be the team to beat if the AFL brought back State of Origin footy?
SEN Breakfast co-hosts Garry Lyon and Tim Watson have broken down some of the stars that would make up the WA side and they feel Victoria, South Australia and the Allies would struggle to topple them.
“What about this for a midfield. Nathan Fyfe, Patrick Cripps and Stephen Coniglio in the centre square for West Australia,” Lyon said.
“Nic Naitanui in the ruck and then rotate Tim Kelly and Jaeger O’Meara in the midfield.
“Can Victoria or South Australia or The Allies come up with a better group than that?”
Watson looks at the depth surrounding that midfield core and the key position strength as a reason as to why Western Australia would be the team to beat.
“I’m not sure how the Victorian team could be WA. You look at the talent that is dripping from that WA team,” he said.
“On top of those guys, they’ve got Brad Hill, Eddie Betts, Liam Ryan, Willie Rioli, Michael Walters, their small forwards and their goal-to-goal line, it would be one hell of a clash between them.
“Imagine a goal-to-goal line of Alex Rance, Jeremy McGovern, Patrick Cripps, Lance Franklin and Josh Kennedy?
“If every player made themselves available for that, it would be nirvana. It would be an unbelievable game between Victoria and WA.”
Lyon had a look at how the Victorian side might line up.
“The Vics have got Max Gawn in the ruck. They’ve got Andrew Gaff, Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield on the outside,” he said.
“Put Ben Cunnington and Clayton Oliver on the big stage with a big white V and all of a sudden they’re feeding those blokes and we’re starting to look at someone like Cunnington and say he is an absolute jet.”
Watson went through the midfield in depth and believes that could be the area where the Victorian side challenges WA.
“The Victorian midfielders that would be qualified to play would be Travis Boak, Cunnington, Marcus Bontempelli, Luke Shuey, Scott Pendlebury, Patrick Dangerfield and Dustin Martin,” he said.
Other stars in line to play for Victoria: Mark Blicavs, Darcy Moore, Jeremy Cameron, Gary Ablett, Tom Lynch, Jordan de Goey, Adam Treloar, Dylan Shiel, Steele Sidebottom and Tom Stewart.
Other stars in line to play for Western Australia: Mitch Duncan, Elliot Yeo, Rory Lobb, Jason Johannisen, Cale Hooker, Ben Stratton, Jesse Hogan.
South Australia’s starting midfield … can it compete? Brodie Grundy, Lachie Neale, Bryce Gibbs, George Hewett, Jared Polec and Chad Wingard.
### SEN is broadcasting three different calls of tonight’s NRL State of Origin!
State of Origin on SEN
Join Joel Caine, Chris McQueen and Terry Campese on 1116 SEN from 7:05pm AEST!
State of Origin parochial Maroons and Blues calls
Maroons Radio: Tune in from 7:05pm with Peter Psaltis, Scott Sattler and Brent Tate on SEN 2!
Blues Radio: Tune in from 7:05pm with Brenton Speed, Laurie Daley and Steve Roach on SEN 3!