Former Victoria captain and Fox Footy’s own Garry Lyon has been named the chairman of selectors for the Big V along with Western Australia’s Glen Jakovich for the 2026 AFL State of Origin match.

Lyon, who’s long endorsed the return of Origin after playing in some of the great Victorian sides during the 1980s and 1990s, will help select Chris Scott’s star-studded side.

Meanwhile Jakovich will reunite with former Eagles teammate Dean Cox to assist in the selection of the WA team for the February 14 clash at Optus Stadium.

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Lyon expects two strong sides to take the field, describing rubbing shoulders with the game’s greats during his Origin heyday as “one of the great thills of my footy career”.

“If it’s Caleb Serong coming back from Western Australia. If it’s Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell to come back and sit alongside our modern day greats. That’s what I want them to be able to experience, because I know what it meant for me,” Lyon said on SEN radio.

“It’s pure footy, it’s as pure as it gets … I understand there’s people who don’t think it should come back and I would imagine there’s plenty going: ‘This is a joke’. Well, it’s not going to be.

“We’re not going to beg players to come back and play State footy. They’ve said they want it, the AFL have thrown considerable weight and resources behind it, they’ll be well compensated for it.

“It’s going to be massive in Western Australia, it will be a sellout. So I’m absolutely confident we’re going to get a really strong side.

“Can you imagine Sam Darcy getting on the end of a sizzling pass from Zak Butters? That’s what excites me.”

Garry Lyon in the 1995 Victorian State of Origin team (Picture: Brett Faulkner)Source: Herald Sun

While Lyon conceded some players mightn’t want to take part given the injury risk, he thinks there’s a responsibility to “celebrate the game”.

“The concerns about losing players, I understand. But none of them are better than Gary Ablett Snr, none of them are more important than Tony Lockett or Greg Williams. And they all put their hands up and played on a Tuesday in the middle of the year,” he continued.

“Sometimes we as a code need to have these occasions where we celebrate the game. We have an opposition code who do that so well.

“We need to get together and say: ‘Hey, for the good of footy and to continue to support footy, there’s only one premier, but these great players have got to be able to have an opportunity to play on a big, big stage’.

“State of Origin footy is a big, big stage.”

So are there any Victorian players already locked in?

Lyon, though yet to sit down with Scott to discuss names, said some players would be announced in the coming weeks to help promote the game.

The Melbourne legend suggested West Coast young gun Harley Reid could be the perfect candidate to pull on the Big V.

Could Harley Reid pull on the Big V? (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“Can you imagine how much he would benefit from walking into that four-day camp and training, preparing, sitting down at breakfast and talking to the best players in the competition?” Lyon posed.

“It would be the best thing that ever happened to him.

“Without pre-empting anything, I could see how that would be a great thing for Harley and the promotion of the game.”

Lyon was hopeful that a “smoky” would get a chance to make a name for themself on the Origin stage.

“What I loved back in our day with EJ Whitten and their selection, they always found room for a little smoky,” he added.

“All of a sudden you’d pick the paper up and go: ‘What!? Brent Harvey is going to play for Victoria? Who’s this Brent Harvey character!?’

“Then he goes out, I think he turned 21 the night before he played, and kicked five goals and won the EJ Whitten Medal and away he went.

“I’m hoping ‘Scotty’ is open to us being able to slip a little smoky in there somewhere.”

It’ll mark the first State of Origin match since 1999.