The AFL has announced Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir and Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell as the assistant coaches for AFL Origin

The AFL has announced Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir and Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell as the assistant coaches for AFL Origin on February 14, representing Western Australia and Victoria respectively.

Longmuir will serve as assistant coach to Dean Cox, a former on-field rival across multiple Western Derbies. He also unites with dynamic Freo forward Shai Bolton, who was one of five players confirmed last month to line up for Western Australia.  

In 2026, Longmuir enters his seventh season at Fremantle, having guided the Freo to a finals appearance in 2025.  

Mitchell will join the Victorian coaching panel under two-time Premiership coach Chris Scott.  

No stranger to the Big V – having represented Victoria in the 2008 Hall of Fame Tribute Match – Mitchell is preparing for his fifth season as Hawthorn coach. He has guided Hawthorn to consecutive finals campaigns, including a preliminary final in 2025 before eventually falling to Scott’s Geelong side.  

The appointments of Longmuir and Mitchell are the first additions to the wider coaching panels, with both Western Australia and Victoria set to confirm a high-performance manager and a further assistant coach.

“Having spent most of my playing and coaching career in Western Australia, representing WA means a great deal to me. We’re a proud football state, and working alongside Dean is an exciting opportunity to help bring Origin footy back – and hopefully knock off the Vics,” Longmuir said.

“I am honoured to have the chance to work alongside Chris. He is a highly respected and credentialled coach, and to help build and coach a team that reflects the pride and tradition of Victorian football is a really exciting proposition,” Mitchell said.

The first wave of players for AFL Origin was unveiled in November, with Patrick Cripps, Shai Bolton, Tom Barrass, Aaron Naughton and Chad Warner set to pull on the ‘Black Swan’ for Western Australia, while the ‘Vics’ will be headlined by Marcus Bontempelli, Matt Rowell, Zak Butters, Jeremy Cameron and Nick Daicos.  

With tickets for AFL Origin now on sale, more players from both states will be revealed in the coming weeks.  

Profits from general public ticket sales will be reinvested back into Western Australian community football pathways as part of the AFL and WA Government’s commitment to growing the game and making it accessible to all.

In 2026, AFL Origin will be delivered with the support of the Western Australian Government, through Tourism WA, and showcase the best of the state to fans all over the country.

The 2026 AFL Origin match will be broadcast on Channel 7 and Fox, as well as 7Plus and Kayo streaming platforms, spotlighting Perth and its world-class sporting facilities to the rest of the nation.

The match will begin at 4.40pm AWST / 7.40pm AEDT. For more information visit origin.afl.