\n Nathan Broad has been selected to represent WA in the upcoming AFL State of Origin match.\n <\/p>\n
Richmond veteran Nathan Broad will proudly pull on the Western Australian guernsey in this month\u2019s 2026 AAMI AFL Origin game.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in WA, Broad, who has played 170 games for Richmond since his debut in 2016, will represent his home state in the match, scheduled for February 14 at Optus Stadium.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a massive honour for the 32-year-old defender, who declared being selected for the prestigious team as \u201can extreme honour\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pinching myself when I got the phone call,\u201d\u00a0Broad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially at my age to represent your state, it\u2019s something that I am extremely honoured and grateful for.”<\/p>\n
Even more so, the opportunity to represent his family, who are still based in Western Australia, means the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Dad, called him first, he was over the moon. Mum\u2019s rapt and Nanna, she loves footy and she\u2019s so proud. She teared up when I was telling her,\u201d Broad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be great for my family, to get them there to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broad, who is a three-time Richmond premiership player, has been eagerly awaiting the chance to play for the state where his footballing career began.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy junior clubs, Upper Swan and Chittering Broncos, that\u2019s where I played all my juniors with my best mates,\u201d Broad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will get them along to the game to represent our junior clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will be the first time Western Australia and Victoria have met in a State of Origin match since 1992.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why the Richmond veteran understands the importance of getting the call up, most excited to learn from his fellow Western Australian teammates on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the coolest parts, seeing how the best go about it. Crippa [Patrick Cripps] is captain, I\u2019m really intrigued to see how he goes leading the team,\u201d Broad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDown back there\u2019s some back men I\u2019ve looked up to along the way, [Tom] Barrass is a key defender, alongside Sam Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my good mate Bakes [Liam Baker] is going to be out there, so we will have a bit of continuity there. I\u2019m honoured to be around some elite players and look forward to learning what they have to offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait to pull the jumper on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Western Australia face Victoria on Saturday, February 14, at 7.40pm (AEDT), 4.40pm (local time) at Optus Stadium, Perth.<\/p>\n
You can watch the 2026 AAMI AFL Origin game on Channel 7, 7Plus, Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Broad has been selected to represent WA in the upcoming AFL State of Origin match. Richmond veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-455592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455592","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=455592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}