Origin not on league's radar

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has labelled Saturday night's Hall of Fame game an 'incredible success' but not enough to ensure state matches again become a regular part of the league's calendar.

Victoria's first match as a team since 1999 attracted a crowd of just under 70,000 to the MCG on Saturday night for the game against The Dream Team - a combined team from the rest of Australia - to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Australian Rules Football.

But while the match appeared to lack intensity and atmosphere - the crowd even resorted to doing the Mexican Wave in the final term, usually a sure sign of boredom and something rarely seen at a club match - Demetriou believed the match was more than a worthy occasion.

"It was an incredible success and I am just particularly grateful to all the people who came tonight," he said after the game.

"I am sure the game had a huge TV audience as well and the support we had from the coaches and the club was phenomenal."

But Demetriou said the game could not have been a success without the support of the players.

"The support we had from the players ever since we pitched this idea to them last year has been fantastic," he said.

"We probably saw 46 of the best 50 players in the competition running around and the joy and pleasure the players got playing with players from other clubs was really significant."

But Demetriou said he did not believe the success of the match would lead to more regular contests, given this was the first state match played in the AFL for nine years.

"We pitched it to the players as a one-off and we still think it is just a one-off because we wanted to celebrate our 150 years," he said.

"The fact that it (a state match) hasn't happened for a number of years contributed to the success of the night but it is not on our radar to do it again next year."

"It's a really difficult thing to get the best players together to play a game and I know how difficult this would have been to do if it wasn't for the support of the players."

Demetriou defended The Dream Team concept even though the visiting team hardly created the kind of traditional atmosphere associated with the old Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia clashes of the 1980s.

"To get a team, a Dream Team with players from all states was terrific and we are not complaining and we saw some wonderful football and skills," he said.