STATE OF ORIGIN footy. It's a topic that seems to come up every season, and I suppose the time was right for it to raise its head again with this week's Hall of Fame match.

Should we bring it back? Would it work this time? Will the players, the clubs and fans fully support it? My answer to all three questions is no, no and I doubt it very much. I think State of Origin football is done and dusted, to be honest.

This weekend's match to celebrate 150 years of our game is a good idea, and I think it would be good to have some sort of game like this every few years or so for the sake of tradition. But the whole State of Origin concept just doesn't seem to work in our game like it does in rugby league. Maybe it's because we truly are a national competition, and we get the whole state versus state thing each week. Maybe it's because winning a premiership remains the ultimate for every player, and nobody wants to put anything in the way of that.

I've never played for the Big V. Interstate footy was fading out when I started playing senior footy, but even as a kid it wasn't a massive deal for me. It wasn't like I had this major goal to represent Victoria. As a kid, you had your team, and I barracked for the Bulldogs back then and there wasn't much joy there, but they were still all you had. You would watch interstate footy on TV - I'd never go to a game - but that was it. It wasn't any sort of big thing back then either.

Footy these days is hard on the body and you have to manage injuries and always make the most of your recovery time. If you get a bye weekend, it's pretty beneficial for a player, and that's one of the biggest drawbacks from playing these representative games.

I understand that coaches are hesitant to let their players play in these games. A coach has to look out for the club's interest. Their job depends on success, and their priority is their own backyard. The last thing they want is to jeopardise their season by having a star player injured in one of these matches, but the player should have the final say.

Having said all that, if I had not been injured or suspended and was picked for this game, I would have played … with one proviso. If I had any sort of niggling injury that could use the week off, I wouldn't consider risking it and would not play.

But playing wouldn't be just so I could represent Victoria. I don't think that has big appeal for me. I really enjoyed the International Rules series against Ireland, just mingling with all the other players, and that would have been the reason I would play in one of these games. In this instance, too, it would also be good to play against the best players in the country.

I'm sure it will be a good spectacle, and I hope our players play well and get through the game unscathed. But, like the fans, I'm not too fussed about watching it.

Back to club footy and we have had a couple of disappointing results in the past two weeks, but we know what we have to do to get back on track and winning games.

I think the general theme that came out of last weekend's round of footy, was how important kicking efficiency and tackling are to winning games. Our tackling was OK against the Bulldogs, but our kicking efficiency was not the best, and it cost us on the scoreboard.

If any one thing stood out in Melbourne's win over Fremantle, it was that they kicked just three goals in the first half, then, when their kicking efficiency went up around 15 per cent, and their tackling intensity also took a step up, they kicked 14 goals in the second half and won their first game of the season.

Look at the teams that are very good in those two areas, Hawthorn and Geelong, and they are the standouts at the moment.

But thanks to this Hall of Fame game, we have the week off to work on a few things, and I'm sure we will get them right when we return against Essendon next week.