{"id":277055,"date":"2025-11-11T06:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277055\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T06:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:23:15","slug":"dayne-zorko-questions-timing-teams-as-afl-state-of-origin-set-to-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277055\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayne Zorko questions timing, teams as AFL State of Origin set to return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane Lions<\/a>‘ Dayne Zorko has questioned the AFL’s decision to bring back State of Origin before next season and wondered why they decided to have just two states participating.<\/p>\n

The AFL announced a return of origin with Western Australia to play Victoria at Optus Stadium in February next year, with Sydney’s Dean Cox coaching WA and Geelong’s Chris Scott coaching the Vics.<\/a><\/p>\n

Zorko has questioned why the AFL has brought back the concept just to have two states play against each other, saying the competition is a national code and origin should be too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all don\u2019t get to play either,\u201d Zorko said on\u00a0SENQ Breakfast.\u00a0\u201cI mean, could you not do a Queensland vs New South Wales team or an Allies team vs the SA team, like why does it have to be just Victoria vs WA?<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Top AFL draft pick seen training with St Kilda, Tex Wanganeen present<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s only two states playing it, but we’re a national code? I\u2019m a little bit confused why only two states get to play it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then are the best of the best going to play it? And correct, you\u2019re embarking on a season, you\u2019ve just come off the back of a really strong pre-season, and then are you going to put it all on the line for no reward at the end of it?”<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, there\u2019s state pride, but it\u2019s not like it\u2019s a series where you get the opportunity to keep going for it.<\/p>\n

Zorko explained that he would like to have the opportunity to play in an Origin series and understands the AFL want to try new things out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were playing in it, I would be a little more for it, but I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re achieving out of it if you\u2019re having it at the start of the pre-season,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I guess you\u2019ve got to try these things and see how they all play out and where it all lands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Western Australia vs Victoria is scheduled for February 14, 2026, at Optus Stadium in Perth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane Lions‘ Dayne Zorko has questioned the AFL’s decision to bring back State of Origin before next season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-277055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}