REPRESENTING his state will go down as a career highlight and a "dream come true" that might only be topped by club success, according to Greater Western Sydney midfielder Stephen Coniglio.

Coniglio was part of a Western Australia midfield that took it up to the might of Victoria in Saturday night's return of AAMI AFL Origin, with the 32-year-old earning the chance to pull on a Black Swans jumper ahead of his 15th season.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA v VICTORIA Full match coverage and stats

The Swan Districts product, who has played in 14 finals in his 227-game career, compared the occasion to a September clash after WA mounted a stirring fightback in the final quarter at Optus Stadium.

"Honestly, it was unbelievable. Really a dream come true and such a special night," Coniglio told AFL.com.au.

"Every player for the Black Swan tonight couldn't be prouder that they were picked for this occasion, and it was a finals like atmosphere.

"For me in terms of career highlights, if it's not one, it might be two."

Victoria threatened to break the game open in the second and third quarters when it was able to string goals together and push the margin out to 30 points, but WA showed the ability to respond.

A four-goal run to open the fourth quarter ignited Optus Stadium and cut the margin to six points, with Coniglio proud of the spirit the team played with after such a short period of time together.

"When you take into consideration that we'd only been together for three or four days, nobody thought we were a chance at all and thought [the margin] would have been a bit bigger than that," Coniglio said.

"But I'm really proud of the boys. We got within a goal and who knows what a couple more days together could have brought, so really proud of what we achieved tonight.

"The previous players that have put on this jumper, we wanted to do them really proud and come with a spirit and play the right way.

"I really thought everyone saw that WA spirit tonight on show."

The opportunity to play under one of his childhood heroes in Dean Cox was also a special experience for Coniglio, highlighting one of the reasons why players were so keen to sign on for Origin and experience a big game alongside new teammates and coaches.

"Being a West Coast supporter growing up, there would have been a few of these boys who idolised him as one our favourite players," Coniglio said.

"We're very blessed to have Adam Kingsley as our [GWS] coach, and you get to see a guy like Dean Cox and how professional he is as a coach as well and the ideas he's got.

"You can see why he's been able to take over so seamlessly after John Longmire and it was a pleasure and a pinch me moment to be honest."