THE AFL has quizzed the League's captains about their openness for a return of State of Origin football.
With the AFL's full set of captains in Melbourne for the captain's media day on Monday, the League's top brass took the group for dinner on Sunday night.
Over steaks and schnitzels at Lamaros Hotel in South Melbourne, the AFL discussed a myriad of topics with the game's leaders, including the return of representative football.
As part of discussions, options around when the games could be played, how often and in what format were raised, as well as how seriously the players would take the matches if they were to pull on a jumper apart from their club's.
Overall, there was considered broad support of the AFL looking at more representative games, following the successful return of the Indigenous All Stars this month in their clash with Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
The chat with the skippers about State of Origin games was part of a wide discussion about the game.
AFL boss Andrew Dillon said last week he was keen to explore bringing back a version of representative football.
"I can't rule [State of Origin] in, and I can't rule it out, but it'll certainly be a conversation I'd like to have with the players and the clubs," Dillon said.
"There seems to be a bit of a groundswell for it, finding the right time for it is important. But maybe that weekend we had last week is sort of sitting there, people are keen for footy – I wouldn't rule it in, but I wouldn't rule it out.
"The question we're now getting asked is how often do you play [Indigenous All Stars], where does the rest of rep footy fit in? The weekend showed it is a pretty good weekend for rep footy, and how that plays out into the future will be discussed with clubs and players over the next weeks and months.
"I would hope by the middle of the year that we'd have a bit of an idea about what we're doing, and we do that as part of the fixture schedule for next year."
The League also met with officials from Ireland's Gaelic Athletic Association competition in Grand Final week last year to discuss the potential return of International Rules.
