{"id":480355,"date":"2026-02-14T22:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T22:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480355\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T22:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T22:16:11","slug":"potential-to-be-something-big-chris-scotts-ringing-endorsement-for-afl-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480355\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Potential to be something big’: Chris Scott’s ringing endorsement for AFL Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winning Victoria coach Chris Scott and his Western Australia counterpart Dean Cox have called for State of Origin<\/a> to be played every year after the concept’s stunning return in Perth.<\/p>\n

A sellout crowd of 58,141 fans turned up to Optus Stadium on Saturday night to watch Victoria hold on for a hard-fought 24-point win, 18.17 (125) to 15.11 (101).<\/p>\n

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WA closed to within six points early in the final quarter following three quick goals to Jesse Hogan, but Victoria’s star-studded squad was able to manage the heat and see out the win.<\/p>\n

It marked the first AFL Origin match since 1999, and the resounding success of its return has already sparked calls for the concept to continue.<\/p>\n

“I would love nothing more to see this grow,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

“I’m obviously a huge advocate. And I think this has got the potential to be something big.<\/p>\n

“I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be every year.<\/p>\n

“Maybe if the player interest does wane a little bit, maybe then you think about adjusting it, but I can’t imagine that being the case.<\/p>\n

“I think it will only grow legs. I mean, as a coach, I think it’s the best time now in preseason.<\/p>\n

“For example, our players have a practice match against Hawthorn on Monday. I know where I’d rather my players be playing.”<\/p>\n

Victoria coach Chris Scott celebrates with his team after winning the first AFL State of Origin match since 1999\u00a0Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Importantly, players from both sides went all-out in their attempt to win the game, and a number of the league’s biggest stars have already signalled their desperation to represent their State next year.<\/p>\n

Scott said WA has the “front running” to host Origin again, given the way fans in the State embraced it, but he knows there will be other States knocking down the door to take part.<\/p>\n

“It really has got some potential,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

“If you were a South Australian aligned player or an Allies aligned player, you had to watch that game thinking, ‘How can you leave us out of this contest?”<\/p>\n

Cox is equally optimistic about Origin’s future.<\/p>\n

“I think State of Origin should be every year,” Cox said.<\/p>\n

“It’s for the AFL to work out who plays in that, whether it’s a carnival, whether it’s a standalone game.<\/p>\n

“The WA Government, WA Tourism and the WA public showed that they’ll support it no matter what time of the year it comes, and they probably deserve to hold it.”<\/p>\n

Not one AFL star who was fit and eligible to play for either Victoria or Western Australia turned down the opportunity to take part.<\/p>\n

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The huge buy-in from players was arguably the biggest reason why the concept was a huge success, and even the glut of injuries to come out of Saturday’s game didn’t dampen the excitement.<\/p>\n

Carlton defender Jacob Weitering was taken to hospital with possible neck, rib and shoulder damage after being crunched in a marking contest.<\/p>\n

Adelaide recruit Callum Ah Chee, Port forward Mitch Georgiades and GWS defender Sam Taylor had their games cut short due to hamstring niggles, while Gold Coast’s Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell injured a finger.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Hogan said the players had embraced the concept all the way through.<\/p>\n

“This year was a little bit of the unknown,” Hogan said.<\/p>\n

“I mean, all the players were excited for it, but we weren’t really sure what to expect.<\/p>\n

“As we were getting closer, as the teams getting announced, the excitement kind of grew.<\/p>\n

“I think everyone that that played underage footy or wants to play for their State or watched tonight. I think this could blossom into something special.<\/p>\n

“There’s absolutely no reason why the players wouldn’t want to buy into this every single year. Hopefully it’s here to stay.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winning Victoria coach Chris Scott and his Western Australia counterpart Dean Cox have called for State of Origin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-480355","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"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480355","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=480355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}