![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/34aa30d73a24f31f1892fb0efef4ee77bebf7085.jpg\")
Camera IconBen Cousins was an interested onlooker. Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper\/The West Australian<\/p>\nWA and Victoria have had their first look at Optus Stadium ahead of tomorrow\u2019s blockbuster AFL Origin clash.<\/p>\n
Both sides staged open training sessions in front of a few hundred fans at the venue, with the visitors up first before the Sandgropers followed them shortly after.<\/p>\n
As the clock ticked to under 24 hours to go until the first senior State-versus-State game since 1999, the intensity of the sessions was only leisurely but the sublime skills of both star-studded sides were on display.<\/p>\n
Footballs seldom missed their target or hit the turf as Victoria went through circlework which ended with shots on goal, while WA\u2019s session focused more on field kicking and contested marking.<\/p>\n
The uptake of black and gold merchandise has been significant, with hundreds of fans waving their guernseys over the boundary for WA\u2019s players to sign at the conclusion of the low-key session.<\/p>\n
One particularly interested onlooker was WA football legend Ben Cousins, who shared a chat with WA chairman of selectors and his former West Coast teammate Glen Jakovich.<\/p>\n
Camera IconBen Cousins was an interested onlooker. Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, the \u2018Kick A Vic\u2019 mindset did not look to be on display as the fans who turned out proved welcoming for Victoria, with some even asking for autographs on their guernseys and hats bearing the Black Swan.<\/p>\n
Geelong star Bailey Smith \u2014 who was far and away the most popular Victorian player amongst the crowd \u2014 even sent some young onlookers into raptures by heeding their calls to kick the ball into the stands, but the fan he targeted could not complete the mark.<\/p>\n
Just as Victoria headed inside for a meeting, Nick Daicos made a Collingwood fan\u2019s day by darting towards the boundary to sign a No.35 Collingwood guernsey being waved in his direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WA and Victoria have had their first look at Optus Stadium ahead of tomorrow\u2019s blockbuster AFL Origin clash.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477223,"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-477222","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\/477222","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=477222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}