{"id":60518,"date":"2025-08-11T17:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/60518\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T17:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:32:17","slug":"afl-locks-in-date-for-blockbuster-state-of-origin-return-between-victoria-and-western-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/60518\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL locks in date for blockbuster State of Origin return between Victoria and Western Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> State of Origin is set for a return next February.<\/p>\n

After months of speculation, 7NEWS Melbourne\u2019s Mitch Cleary has confirmed Saturday, February 14 as the day that state footy will make its long awaited return after what will be 27 years by then.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: AFL State of Origin set for return next February.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleary revealed it will be Western Australia that takes on the Big V when the game kicks off next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll parties are in the final stages of negotiation that will see WA host Victoria at Optus Stadium,\u201d Cleary told 7NEWS Melbourne on Monday night,<\/p>\n

\u201c7NEWS understands the AFL and WA government held productive talks late last week, the last haggling down to the exact split on who foots the bill, and gate-takings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe will likely see Harley Reid the star attraction for Victoria, in Perth. The headlines just write themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is expected to count towards the players\u2019 pre-season schedule, excusing them from a club pre-season game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Agenda Setters\u2019 Carlton Wilson reported in May that AFL captains<\/a> had expressed a desire for an event this year, but the league did not want to shoehorn it into an already full calendar.<\/p>\n

\"DustinDustin Martin won the best on ground medal in 2020 when Victoria played the All-Stars for the bushfire relief charity game. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon it\u2019s going to happen and I reckon it\u2019s going to happen in February next year. And I reckon it\u2019s going to be West Australia versus Victoria.\u201d Wilson said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFL captains said they wanted it earlier this year. The AFL want to be convinced that (the 18 club captains) are going to support this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before AFL State of Origin was scrapped, the great rivalry over the years was between Victoria and South Australia, with the Victoria and Western Australia rivalry a close second.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because obviously Adelaide has Gather Round at the moment, and that\u2019s going to happen again at least next year, and we think for many years to come, I think the view is WA versus Victoria would be the perfect fit for next February,\u201d Wilson said in May.<\/p>\n

The buzz around State of Origin started earlier this year when the Indigenous All Stars took on Fremantle at Optus Stadium in an exhibition match in February.<\/p>\n

In 2020, an exhibition game was played between Victoria and a combined All-Stars team as a bushfire-relief charity game.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL State of Origin is set for a return next February. After months of speculation, 7NEWS Melbourne\u2019s Mitch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60519,"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-60518","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\/60518","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=60518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}