{"id":472747,"date":"2026-02-11T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472747\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:39:13","slug":"afl-origin-is-back-but-the-question-on-every-footy-fans-mind-has-nothing-to-do-with-who-will-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472747\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Origin is back, but the question on every footy fan\u2019s mind has nothing to do with who will win"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the question on every nervous footy fan\u2019s lips as a plane load of the state\u2019s best talent jets west for AFL Origin \u2013 how do they avoid coming back injured?<\/p>\n

Carlton fans would be top of that list. Could the long-suffering Blues fans endure a large chunk of the season without Patrick Cripps or Jacob Weitering?<\/p>\n

Not that the Magpie Army would be far behind them in the anxiety stakes. They would love to see Darcy Cameron and Nick Daicos fly back from WA in one piece.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Jacob Weitering (Victoria via Carlton) and Darcy Cameron (WA via Collingwood) are pumped up for Saturday\u2019s State of Origin match.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But fear not. The secret to staying injury free, according to Cameron, is to not think about getting injured. Let\u2019s hope he\u2019s never heard of Murphy\u2019s Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first game, sort of, pre-season, so you want to treat it like a proper game, a proper hit-out,\u201d the reigning Magpies best and fairest said before boarding the flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be going out all guns blazing. I feel like anytime you go out there and try not to get injured, is when is you get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weitering dismissed concerns that the match would become a bruise-free exhibition match. Which is probably not what the Blues faithful want to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s going to be hot,\u201d the Blues defender said. \u201cBoys are going to compete for the jumper and each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity that you just don\u2019t get regularly. And we\u2019ve seen, it\u2019s been a long time since we\u2019ve been able to do it, so I think the first 10 minutes is, you know, there\u2019s going to be a few contests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

Cameron and Weitering conduct a media doorstop on Wednesday ahead of the State of Origin match.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

What happens if one of those contests involves the Blues skipper? What will Weitering prioritise if he finds Cripps between himself and the ball on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be done fairly but, but it\u2019ll be a hell of a contest for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Weitering said he was not worried about getting injured when he takes the field against Western Australia.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cThe preparation, the time that has been put into it, the team that we\u2019ve got around us, the trainers, the doctors, the communication between the clubs and the AFL, I think, has been pretty good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Weitering expected every players\u2019 game time to be managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got 25 guys per team, so the rotations in some pretty hot weather will be handy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Darcy said, if you go out thinking of maybe going at 80 or 90 per cent, that\u2019s when you do get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, rest assured club land fans \u2013 your precious players are in safe hands. Fingers crossed, touch wood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the question on every nervous footy fan\u2019s lips as a plane load of the state\u2019s best talent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-472747","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\/472747","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=472747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}