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NSW Blues v Queensland Maroons: Perth confirmed for State of Origin 2019 series
By Brad Walter
State of Origin is headed to Perth, with the second game of the 2019 series to be played in the West Australian capital.
As revealed by Fairfax Media on the eve of this season's Origin finale at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night, the NRL is set to take one match from each series to a neutral venue from 2018 and Perth will join Melbourne and Los Angeles as cities outside NSW and Queensland to have hosted a game.
With last year's match at the MCG worth $12 million after attracting a record crowd of 91,513, Origin is expected to return to the venue in 2018 and officials will confirm on Friday that a match will be played at the new 60,000-seat Perth Stadium in 2019.
The decision to move the second match of each series to a Sunday night from 2018 has created the opportunity to play an Origin in a different time zone to Australia's east coast and Perth and Auckland are expected to bid regularly for games, along with Melbourne.
State against state: Robbie Farah is tackled during game three of the State Of Origin series, which will head to Perth in 2019.Credit: Getty Images
The $1.2 billion Perth Stadium, which is located at Burswood, is due to open before the 2018 AFL season and will be managed by VenuesLive, the same company that operates ANZ Stadium.
The game in Perth will coincide with a massive redevelopment of ANZ Stadium, which is due to begin in 2019 after the new stadium at Parramatta is completed.
After abandoning Perth during the Super League war, when the Western Reds were folded to accommodate the introduction of the Melbourne Storm in 1998, the game is again growing in popularity after NRL clubs began taking matches to the city in 2009.
Perth will host its first rugby league international on October 15 when Australia play New Zealand at nib Stadium in the lead-up to the 2016 Four Nations Tournament in Britain, while Manly play the Warriors there on Saturday night.
South Sydney, who last month hosted Gold Coast Titans at nib Stadium, have been playing home matches in Perth every season since 2009.
Meanwhile, NSW prop Andrew Fifita and Queensland pair Greg Inglis and Corey Parker have all been suspended over incidents in Wednesday night's Origin match.
Fifita received a one-match ban and will miss Cronulla's match against Sydney Roosters on Monday night after pleading guilty to contrary conduct for the incident in which he was sinbinned after running 35 metres to pull Queensland forward Gavin Cooper out of a huddle celebrating his second half try for the Maroons.
Parker also accepted a one-match ban for dangerous contact on James Tedesco and will miss Brisbane's clash with South Sydney, who will be without Inglis for the next three weeks after he pleaded guilty to a grade two shoulder charge on Josh Dugan.