AFL State of Origin for Bushfire Relief: Preview

State of Origin returns to the AFL for the first time in just over a decade when Victoria and the All-Stars clash in a one-off match at Marvel Stadium this Friday evening to raise funds for the bushfire relief appeal.

For this week only I am resting my AFL Women’s weekly previews with the exception of the Collingwood versus Melbourne match, which will serve as a curtain-raiser, to deliver a preview of this special AFL State of Origin match.

In the wake of the bushfires that ravaged New South Wales and Victoria towards the end of last year, resulting in thousands losing their homes and 34 people losing their lives, it was announced by the AFL that this one-off match would be played to aid the recovery effort.

It will be the first time since the 2008 AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match that such a game is played. On that occasion Victoria, led by captain Jonathan Brown, defeated the Dream Team by 17 points in front of a crowd of nearly 70,000 at the MCG.

Then Carlton forward Brendan Fevola won the Allen Aylett Medal after kicking six majors for the Victorians, while Lance Franklin booted four for the Dream Team.

From that match played on 10 May 2008, only Scott Pendlebury (Victoria) will play in the 2020 State of Origin one-off this Friday night, though Franklin was considered a chance to represent the All-Stars before being ruled out due to a knee injury.

Others to miss include North Melbourne’s Ben Cunnington (replaced by West Coast’s Andrew Gaff) and Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray, with ex-Power captain Travis Boak to take his place in the Victorian side.

The Big V will be coached by two-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick, who will be marshalling some of his own Richmond players, including Dustin Martin, forward Tom Lynch, defender Bachar Houli and club captain (and likely Victorian skipper) Trent Cotchin.

Joining Hardwick in the coaches box will be his assistant at Richmond, Adam Kingsley, as well as ex-Essendon premiership defender Dean Solomon and St Kilda games record holder Robert Harvey.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson was also due to join the coaching panel but will instead oversee his club’s unofficial scratch match against St Kilda, which will be held on the same evening in Morwell.

Lynch and reigning Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron are expected to start in the forward line for the Vics, while Swans defender Jake Lloyd will marshal the backline against an All-Stars forward line featuring Jack Riewoldt, Taylor Walker, Charlie Cameron and Tom Hawkins.

Cotchin, newly appointed Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli, Josh Kelly, new Adelaide Crows captain Rory Sloane, Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury and 2016 Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield will form what is set to be a strong and dangerous midfield.

It will be the first time Sloane and Dangerfield play in the same team since the latter left the Crows at the end of the 2015 season to move closer to home.

The All-Stars, on the other hand, will be led by Sydney Swans premiership coach John Longmire, with Fremantle captain and two-time Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe to captain the side.

Longmire will be joined on the coaching panel by Greater Western Sydney assistant coach Mark McVeigh as well as ex-premiership players Dean Cox and Stuart Dew, three-time Brisbane Lions premiership captain Michael Voss and three-time premiership Cat Joel Corey.

Only ex-Essendon defender McVeigh did not win a flag as a player, playing only one game in the Bombers’ dominant 2000 season.

Apart from the star-studded forward line led by Walker and Riewoldt, the All-Stars will be led in the engine room by Fyfe, new GWS Giants captain Stephen Coniglio, Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps and reigning Brisbane Lions best-and-fairest Lachie Neale.

Lions fullback Harris Andrews will marshal the All-Stars backline and in the process renew acquaintances with Jeremy Cameron, who infamously floored the 23-year-old in the AFL match between Brisbane and GWS at the Gabba in June 2018 and received a five-match suspension as a result.

Callum Mills, coached by Longmire at the Sydney Swans, will be the youngest player in the All-Stars side, while Jade Gresham will be Victoria’s youngest representative.

Because of the number of players who wear a particular number for their respective clubs, it has been determined by the AFL that whoever has played more games in that number will wear it in Friday night’s match.

This means that with Dustin Martin (203 AFL games) assuming the No. 4 guernsey, the likes of Toby Greene and Marcus Bontempelli will wear Nos. 5 and 7 respectively on either side of Lachie Whitfield wearing No. 6, as he does for the GWS Giants.

Trent Cotchin (234 games) has won the right to wear No. 9 for Victoria, which will see Rory Sloane (199 games) revert to the No. 31 guernsey he wore in his first two AFL seasons before he switched to No. 9 in 2011.

Other players set to wear different numbers include Jade Gresham and Michael Walters (both No. 1), Lachie Neale (No. 17), Josh Kelly (No. 23) and Steele Sidebottom (No. 24), among others.

Television-wise, Fox Footy and the Seven Network will join forces to broadcast the match, with Eddie McGuire and Bruce McAvaney to team up together behind the mic for the first time since the infamous Battle of Britain match in 1987 in which then teenagers Longmire and Alastair Clarkson featured.

This would see McGuire, one of Channel Nine’s most famous personalities, appear on Nine’s fiercest rival network, though not for the first time after he co-hosted the three commercial television networks’ simulcast of the Australia Unites: Reach Out to Asia telethon in 2005.

In what is set to be a huge night of footy at Marvel Stadium, the curtain-raiser beforehand will see Collingwood and Melbourne face off in the first match of Round 4 of the AFL Women’s season. Starting just after 5:30pm, this match will be telecast exclusively on Fox Footy.

The match was originally slated to be held at Victoria Park, but it was moved to Docklands to serve as the entree into the first AFL State of Origin match of any kind since 2008.

Both clubs are coming off their first losses for the season, with the Pies losing to Fremantle by just three points in the west and inaccuracy costing the Dees in a five-point loss to St Kilda at Moorabbin Oval.

Despite the best efforts of Jaimee Lambert and Brianna Davey, who racked up 50 disposals between them, the Pies fell short by less than a kick, but coach Steve Symonds would still be happy with his side’s progress after three seasons of struggle under Wayne Siekman.

Meanwhile, the bad luck with injuries continued for the Dees, with Maddy Guerin becoming the fourth player after Ainslie Kemp, Shae Sloane and Katherine Smith to suffer the dreaded ACL injury in the loss to the Saints.

It adds to what is already a worrying injury toll for the club, though on the positive side, this could clear the decks for ex-Adelaide premiership forward Sarah ‘Tex’ Perkins to make a surprise AFLW comeback as early as this Friday night.

With the Pies and Dees sitting in second and fourth place in Conference B respectively, it shapes as a crucial match in the context of the season, especially with only the top three sides in each conference to contest an extended finals series in April.

Other matches in Round 4 of the AFL Women’s season will see:

• Richmond and Geelong attempt to break their season ducks at Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo;
• North Melbourne host the Gold Coast Suns at their traditional home ground, Arden Street Oval;
• the West Coast Eagles return home when they host the Western Bulldogs at Leederville Oval;
• the grand final rematch between the Adelaide Crows and Carlton at Richmond Oval;
• Fremantle travel away for the first time this year when they face St Kilda at Moorabbin Oval; and
• the GWS Giants fly north to face the undefeated Brisbane Lions in an intra-conference clash.

(Michael WIllson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Victoria vs All-Stars

Friday, 28 February, 7:50pm at Marvel Stadium

Match predictions
Match: Victoria by 18 points.
First goal kicker: Jeremy Cameron (Victoria), Jack Riewoldt (All-Stars)
Most goal kickers: Cameron (Victoria), Tom Hawkins (All-Stars)
Most possessions: Dustin Martin (Victoria), Lachie Neale (All-Stars)
Best on ground: Martin (if Victoria win), Patrick Cripps (if the All-Stars win)
AFLW: Collingwood by 12 points.