By Brad Walter
Origin III at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night is likely to be the last time Sydney hosts two matches in a series as the NRL prepares to take a game to a neutral venue each season.
Under the terms of the current deal with the states, NSW hosts two Origins this season, Queensland has two home matches next year and one game of the 2018 series will be taken to a neutral venue, likely to be the MCG.
Beyond 2018, the NRL is planning to take one game of each series on the road and Melbourne, Perth and Auckland are expected to bid for Origin matches.
A new 60,000-seat stadium in Perth, to be managed by VenuesLive, the same company that manages ANZ Stadium, is to open in 2018 and is a potential Origin venue, along with Eden Park in Auckland.
The Blues squad during the State of Origin captain's run at ANZ Stadium on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
With Origin dominating Australian television ratings figures on an annual basis, the NRL believes that taking matches to other cities will help grow the game outside its NSW and Queensland heartlands.
There are also strong financial benefits as last year's match at the MCG was worth $12 million after attracting a record crowd of 91,513.
Despite the popularity of Origin, it has always been difficult to sell-out two matches in a series at ANZ Stadium, and 2013 was the only time a crowd of more than 80,000 filled the venue.
A crowd of about 65,000 is predicted for Wednesday night's dead rubber at ANZ Stadium, which will exceed the 52,000 capacity at Suncorp Stadium but still leaves more than 15,000 empty seats.
The last dead rubber at ANZ Stadium was after NSW had won the first two Origins in 2000 and it attracted a crowd of 58,767 to watch the home team complete a "blue rinse" of the series in a 56-16 defeat of the Maroons.
The opening game of that series at ANZ Stadium drew a crowd of 61,511 and it wasn't until 2004 that the former Olympic venue posted a capacity attendance for an Origin match when 82,487 fans cheered the Blues to a series win in the deciding match.
Since then, there has been a crowd of more than 80,000 at ANZ Stadium each series except 2010 when Sydney hosted two matches, attracting attendances of 68,759 and 61,259 respectively.
The crowd for Origin I on June 1 was 80,251.