The Big V has a storied history, and given the pool of players that Chairman of Selectors Garry Lyon and head coach Chris Scott<\/a> had at their disposal, the Vics’ eventual victory was hardly a surprise.<\/p>\n The side that carried the torch of revival was picked on reputation, given the game was played in February and no recent games could have been used to inform selection debates.<\/p>\n That’s now changed. After seven rounds of AFL<\/a> action, we’re re-selecting the side. The exceptional form of some players entrench them firmly in discussions, while injury and poor form necessitate the omissions of some incumbents.<\/p>\n Check out our re-selected side below!<\/p>\n Backs<\/p>\n FB: Blake Hardwick<\/a>, James Sicily<\/a>, Josh Worrell<\/a> Jacob Weitering<\/a> and Sam Collins<\/a> make way for James Sicily<\/a> and Josh Worrell<\/a>, after sputtering starts to the season. Conversely, Sicily has been influential in Hawthorn’s stellar start, while Worrell has responded to his All-Australian snub last year with an excellent start to the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n E.J. Whitten Medallist Lachie Ash<\/a> retains his spot, as do Josh Battle<\/a> and Blake Hardwick<\/a>.<\/p>\n Per Wheelo Ratings, the Hawks are the number one ranked side for defence after Round 7, and the selection of three of their finest defenders in this side is just rewards for such a standing.<\/p>\n
HB: Tom Stewart<\/a>, Josh Battle<\/a>, Lachie Ash<\/a><\/p>\n![\"PERTH,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2261102747-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/)
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 14: Lachie Ash of Victoria poses with the EJ Whitten Medal during the 2026 AFL Origin match between Western Australia and Victoria at Optus Stadium on February 14, 2026 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
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There was a romance to the return of AFL Origin in the pre-season, and players from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-634975","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\/634975","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=634975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}