WEDNESDAY'S nail-biting finish to rugby league's State of Origin opener has again sparked interest in the concept being revived for the nation's native code.

It comes after plenty of nostalgic writing throughout footy media in the buildup to the eastern state's 100th representative match during the week.

12 Port Adelaide players were rated good enough to represent their states by News Corp Australia mastheads earlier this week.

In the lists compiled, Victoria would have three Power players - skipper Travis Boak, ruckman Matt Lobbe, and clever mid-forward Robbie Gray - run out in the Big V.

News Corp's South Australian team was laced with Port Adelaide talent.

The centreline features Kane Cornes, Brad Ebert and Jared Polec, while Chad Wingard, Jay Schulz and Angus Monfries were positioned up forward.

Matthew Broadbent is named on the half back flank and Justin Westhoff on the half forward flank, while Hamish Hartlett was named on the bench for the Croweaters.

No significant research has been conducted into whether the demand exists for the State of Origin concept to return to Australian Football, although there are some calls for its comeback within the footy public.

But those calls have historically met heavy resistance from within the industry, and particularly AFL headquarters.

Outgoing AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou gave the clearest indication yet that State of Origin wouldn't be brought out of retirement, saying the League is driving to be the best club-against-club competition going around.

"At club level, we've got the greatest club versus club competition in the country and that's what we pride ourselves on," Demetriou told SEN Radio.

"We shouldn't pretend we're anything else.

"Every week there are classic games that get 50, 80, 70,000 [attendances].

"We should be pretty proud of that and shouldn't try and be what we're not."

State of Origin football disappeared at the turn of the century as the AFL continued its national expansion following Port Adelaide's elevation to the competition in 1997 and the move into new markets and venues.

A one-off Hall of Fame Tribute Match was played in 2008 between the Big V and a Dream Team comprised of non-Victorian players.

But the state versus state format still exists at the semi-professional level with annual representative games contested between the various state-based leagues, such as Saturday's game between the VFL and SANFL at North Port Oval in Port Melbourne.

Wednesday night's League State of Origin game undoubtedly presented plenty of reasons to both stage and not stage the format in Australian Rules competition.

While loud and large attendances like the one that saw the Blues hold off the Maroons are something equally as desired by the AFL, they are already commonplace.

Rugby's Origin 1 match - a game as significant to that code as an AFL final - drew a crowd of 52,111 at Lang Park.

Port Adelaide's Round 10 game against Hawthorn at the Adelaide Oval last week drew a figure of 52,233.

The Showdown between Port Adelaide and the Crows earlier in the year drew over 50,000 while other derbies and local Victorian rivalries often draw big attendances.

In the final days of AFL Origin football, interest had clearly dwindled.

And then there's the injuries.

A suspected broken arm to Melbourne Storm star Cooper Cronk while playing for the Maroons on Wednesday highlights the dangers of representative football to the injury lists of the League's 18 clubs.