{"id":283381,"date":"2025-11-14T06:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/283381\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T06:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:24:13","slug":"first-players-coaches-announced-for-return-of-afl-origin-in-perth-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/283381\/","title":{"rendered":"First players, coaches announced for return of AFL Origin in Perth next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL Origin is officially back next year, and some of WA\u2019s biggest homegrown stars will be suiting up when the state rivalry reignites at Optus Stadium in February 2026.<\/p>\n

After being announced in September,<\/a> the first player announcements for the 2026 AAMI AFL Origin have dropped, confirming Brownlow medal winner Patrick Cripps alongside Shai Bolton, Aaron Naughton and Tom Barrass, led by Eagles legend (and current Sydney Swans coach) Dean Cox.<\/p>\n

Victoria is bringing plenty of firepower too, tapping Marcus Bontempelli, Zak Butters, Jeremy Cameron and Matt Rowell, with Cats premiership coach Chris Scott at the helm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be the first AFL Origin match since 1999 \u2014 giving fans a rare chance to see the league\u2019s best go head-to-head in state colours.<\/p>\n

The showdown lands at Optus Stadium on Saturday 14 February, with presale tickets available Tuesday 18 November, and general public on sale the following day.<\/p>\n

Sport and Recreation Minister Rita Saffioti said the return of AFL Origin was \u201ca rare chance for WA footy fans to unite behind some of our State\u2019s best players,\u201d adding that more player announcements are still to come.<\/p>\n

Tourism Minister Reece Whitby added the clash was shaping up to be \u201ca must-attend match for footy fans across Australia,\u201d highlighting the expected buzz for hotels, restaurants and local businesses.<\/p>\n

For ticket details and updates, head to the AFL Origin website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: AFL Photos\/Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL Origin is officially back next year, and some of WA\u2019s biggest homegrown stars will be suiting up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-283381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}