2026 AFL Origin

Last updated

2026 AFL Origin
Western Australia State of Origin colours.svg
Western Australia 		Vicfootballjumper.jpg
Victoria
Date14 February 2026
Stadium Optus Stadium

The 2026 AFL Origin match is an upcoming Australian rules football match to be held in accordance with State of Origin selection criteria between two representative sides organised by the Australian Football League (AFL).

Contents

The match will be played on 14 February 2026 at Optus Stadium in Perth, between Western Australia and Victoria. It will be Western Australia's first appearance in a state of origin match since 1998 and Victoria's first since 2020. [1] The match had sold out all 60,000 available tickets by 19 January. [2]

Teams

The AFL staggered the names of players selected for the two teams over the off-season. On 14 November 2025, the AFL announced the first group of eight players to compete for the Western Australian and Victorian teams, which included club captains Patrick Cripps (Western Australia) and Marcus Bontempelli (Victoria). [3] Melbourne forward Kysaiah Pickett was unexpectedly selected for Western Australia, despite having been drafted from the Woodville-West Torrens Football Club in South Australia; standard eligibility was determined by the junior club the player was drafted from, however Pickett was selected for Western Australia on the basis that he was predominantly raised in Quairading, Western Australia and identified as a Noongar man. [4]

Both teams had late withdrawals due to injuries, with Brandon Starcevich withdrawn for Western Australia [5] and Jeremy Cameron for Victoria. [6] Guernsey numbers were announced on 9 February 2026, with most players allocated the numbers that they wore at their respective clubs, however as there were several cases of multiple players wearing the same number, a rule was instigated where if multiple players requested the same number, the deciding factor was the number of games played in that number. [7]

Source: afl.com.au

See also

References

  1. ↑ Peter Ryan (26 February 2020). "Inside the 'Big V' meeting that signalled state of origin's demise". The Age.
  2. ↑ "2026 AAMI AFL Origin Sells Out". AFL.com.au. 19 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "First batch of eight players unveiled for AFL Origin return". AFL Media. 14 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  4. ↑ "Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett granted unexpected State of Origin eligibility". Wide World of Sports. 28 November 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  5. ↑ Noakes, Cameron (4 February 2026). "AFL State of Origin full squads confirmed as West Coast scratches Brandon Starcevich". Seven Network.
  6. ↑ Twomey, Callum (8 February 2026). "Geelong superstar ruled out of AFL Origin". AFL.com.au. 1116 SEN.
  7. ↑ "Bont v Toby, Serong v Smith: Who pulled rank in Origin's number battle?". AFL Media. 9 February 2026. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  8. ↑ "Flag winner out, five new faces in as WA finalises Origin squad". afl.com.au. 3 February 2026. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  9. ↑ Black, Sarah (9 February 2026). "Cameron ruled out of Origin, Sun gets call-up". afl.com.au. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.