![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/856e6aa391a6da9765528ea04adc05da01b52c89.jpg\")
Camera IconPatrick Cripps will lead WA. Credit: Ross Swanborough\/The West Australian<\/p>\nWestern Australia will be lead by a dual Brownlow Medallist for next month\u2019s highly-anticipated AFL Origin clash in Perth, with Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps announced as captain.<\/p>\n
Western Bulldogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli will lead a star-studded Victorian side for the sold-out clash at Optus Stadium on February 14.<\/p>\n
The pair are no strangers to their respective soles, with Cripps leading the Blues since 2019 as co-captain before assuming the sole captaincy in 2022 and Bontempelli leading the Dogs since 2020.<\/p>\n
Cripps, who claimed the AFL\u2019s highest individual honour in 2022 and 2024, said he was honoured to captain his state.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be named captain of Western Australia is incredibly special,\u201d the 30-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresenting the state means a lot to me and I can\u2019t wait to lead the team out at Optus Stadium in front of our home crowd and hopefully make them proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camera IconPatrick Cripps will lead WA. Credit: Ross Swanborough\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
Bontempelli, a seven-time All-Australian, echoed Cripps\u2019 sentiment following his appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cPulling on the \u2018Big V\u2019 has always been a huge honour and to be give the opportunity to captain Victoria is something I\u2019ll cherish,\u201d Bontempelli, 30, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a deep history and pride that comes with representing your state and I\u2019m looking forward to leading some of Victoria\u2019s best footballers on February 14.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bontempelli is one of four current AFL captains named to represent Victoria with Noah Anderson (Gold Coast), Toby Greene (Greater Western Sydney), Max Gawn (Melbourne), while Cripps is the sole skipper named in WA\u2019s side so far.<\/p>\n
West Coast great Dean Cox will coach WA up against Geelong two-time premiership coach Chris Scott.<\/p>\n
The AFL Origin match will be broadcast live and free on Seven and 7Plus, with tickets for the clash already sold out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia will be lead by a dual Brownlow Medallist for next month\u2019s highly-anticipated AFL Origin clash in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,49082,64,63,55,639,588,85],"class_list":["post-430781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-afl-state-of-origin","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430781","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=430781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}