JEREMY Cameron has been ruled out of the 2026 AAMI AFL Origin game, but he hasn’t been removed from the group chat. Joel Selwood has added everyone on WhatsApp as player liaison officer, including Ben King late last week.
Patrick Dangerfield has been the most vocal in the group. Geelong is well represented in the Victorian team, with Tom Stewart and Max Holmes picked in December before Bailey Smith was added last week.
That selection has injected new energy to the group chat, as expected, with one Western Bulldogs star not wasting the opportunity to have a cheeky dig at his former teammate, igniting plenty of chatter ahead of the trip west.
AFL ORIGIN All you need to know about WA v Victoria
Two-time premiership coach Chris Scott is leading the Victorians and bringing his analyst from the Cats, Stephen Nicholls, and the club’s science and medicine consultant, Dr Steve Saunders.
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell and Gold Coast midfield coach Shaun Grigg are the assistants, while Brisbane GM Danny Daly will also be involved for the 'Big V' in an old-school, all-encompassing footy manager role.
Gun football department staff have also been conscripted. Collingwood high performance boss Jarrod Wade, Western Bulldogs head of sports medicine Chris Bell and North Melbourne’s head of strength John Leyden will all head west.
Hawthorn trio Liam West (doctor), Andrew Lambart (head physio) and Alex Stone (head dietician) are part of the travelling party, while St Kilda’s player development manager and runner Tony Brown is also in camp with Victoria.
The Victorians fly to Perth on Wednesday ahead of the first Origin fixture since Victoria hosted South Australia at the MCG in 1999.
Both sides will train at West Coast’s base at Mineral Resources Park on Thursday before holding a captain’s run at Optus Stadium on Friday morning.
Victoria will hold a welcome dinner at Crown on Thursday night where players will be presented with their 'Big V' jumper and a blazer, with Victorian greats including chairman of selectors Garry Lyon to be involved.
Three E.J. Whitten Medal winners – Brent Harvey (1999 v South Australia), Dale Weightman (1990 v New South Wales) and Simon Madden (1990 v Western Australia) – have been invited to be involved with the Victorians in Perth.
The AFL has invited the partners and children of every player selected and will have the families involved in activities across the week, as well as providing nannies to support.
Players will spend time on Rottnest Island, Caversham Wildlife Park, playing golf and on a lobster charter during the five-day trip to Western Australia.
Selwood won four premierships across his 355 appearances for the Cats and holds the record for most games as captain (245) and most finals (40), but played only one game for Victoria when the AFL held a tribute game in 2008. Now the legendary midfielder is heavily involved in Origin in his current role in the football operations department at the AFL.