DEAN Cox paces the team meeting room at Optus Stadium with his right arm pumping as he addresses the Western Australia team on game day and underlines what the return of AAMI AFL Origin means.

Captain Patrick Cripps sits to his left and Wil Powell, Stephen Coniglio and Nathan Broad are under his nose. Chad Warner is brimming with energy in the middle of the auditorium, while a tight-knit group of Indigenous stars, including Kysaiah Pickett and Charlie Cameron, fill one row.

Twenty-five players from 16 AFL clubs have been brought together over four days, and Cox isn't interested in talking too many tactics or opposition analysis with them one hour before the Sherrin is thrown up. He wants his players to know what has been achieved so far in a brief but powerful camp that has turned a group of individuals into a team.

"Right from the outset, as soon as we got into camp and the enjoyment everyone has had … we're as close a group as you can get within four days, and that'll show when we get out there," Cox tells them. 

Cox's WA team was the first to wear the Black Swan in a State of Origin game since 1998, and the success of the concept's return depended in many ways on the group's competitiveness against a star-studded Victorian squad.

It's a responsibility the group took on through their time together, inspired by chairman of selectors and West Coast and WA champion Glen Jakovich, with AFL.com.au given inner sanctum access throughout the WA camp. 

The message of 'responsibility' was front and centre throughout, and especially in the hour before the game as Cox rallied the troops.

"Why are we here, what does State of Origin mean, and how do we reignite it?" Cox asks his players.

"We created State of Origin, not the Vics. It was us. Twenty-eight years it's been since we've had the chance … and it's a chance a lot of us haven't had.

"You guys get that opportunity, and the first opportunity [since 1998]. We have to make it count. We have to embrace the opportunity."

When it does come to talking tactics, Jordan Clark, Stephen Coniglio and Jake Waterman speak up to run through the focuses for each line group, while assistant coach Nathan van Berlo rattles through the key structural points for the team.

The focus is to run in waves, continually look to attack, and bring the ball to ground inside 50 and let the fast and dangerous small forwards in Pickett, Shai Bolton and Cameron do their work.

What matters most, however, will be Cox's final slide about the 'best WA act'. It contains the three key focuses for every player to remember.

• How do I provide energy for a teammate?
• Support in any possible way I can.
• Reward what we value.

"If you see something you like, get over to them as quickly as you possibly can," Cox says.

"If we're doing that over and over again in front of our home crowd, that's what will spark and fuel even more energy and put them on the back foot.

"This will sum us up. It's how we want to play together."

'That's our competitive advantage'

THE WA team first gathered over Zoom on Thursday, February 5 and was asked to prepare for the next week's team camp by preparing a story or bringing with them an item that highlighted their connection to WA.

When they came together on Wednesday of Origin week at the team hotel in Perth's CBD, Cox kicked things off by sharing his own personal story with an aerial photo of Dampier in WA's Pilbara region, where the champion ruckman grew up.

The photo, which hangs in his office at Sydney's Royal Hall of Industries training base, was a 30th birthday present from his wife, Kerry, and represents the town that shaped the coach's love for connecting people and "just enjoying every moment as a group".

"The first thing I do when I come back to WA is get to Dampier as quickly as I can. Unfortunately, they don't fly Sydney to Dampier," Cox tells his team on the Wednesday night.

"The green oval there, right at the bottom near the water, that's where I played all my junior footy. Windy Ridge Oval.

"I didn't have the chance to sit where you guys sit now. But where it started there has got me to now where I have the chance to coach you guys.

"That's what connects me to WA the most and always will. I've always been a Dampier boy and always will be."

The WA team is focused on connecting as a group as quickly as possible and splits into line groups to share their own stories about WA and what connects them to the state. For some, it's the open road and the country towns, while for others it's the ocean, surfing and fishing.

The room is full of players who have left WA to pursue their footy dreams, but Cox wants their love for WA and their excitement in representing the state to be the common ground that binds them quickly.

"The Vics, they see each other all the time. Whether it's through media or club commitments … but when you come back to WA, everyone is reacquainting and meeting again, so that's going to be our competitive advantage," he says.

"The ability to connect everyone as quickly as we can. Because we don't see everyone that often, and the bond that we have will be stronger than what theirs is. That's one thing that we'll have.

"Where you're playing, strategy, all of that is a part of what we'll do. But the first part is to get to know each other a little bit."

'I hope this is the rebirth'

CHARLIE Cameron has his eyes locked on Australian football great Stephen Michael as the champion ruckman talks about what it means to represent Western Australia.

Michael was a force for WA through the 1980s and played 17 state games, with many regarding the dual Sandover medallist and 1983 All-Australian captain as the most talented footballer to never play in the VFL. 

"To play for your home state is just unbelievable. It's your home state, your home country, your backyard. You don't want no one to take it away from you," he told the team.

"I came in tonight and I couldn't believe it. You're all like family … the morale in this room is just unbelievable."

Michael, who was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1999, spoke about his approach to the game and the importance he placed on making the ball his sole objective and not letting anyone get in the way.

He had the room engaged and then in raptures when making jokes about his game-day diet. 

"It's pretty surreal to have a legend like that come in and have a chat, and as an Indigenous player to see an older Indigenous player talk about his footy and his upbringing was pretty special," Cameron told AFL.com.au later.

"You've got to observe and learn and also respect what he's done. He's paved the way for young Indigenous people to come through in the WAFL, so you've got to show respect."

Jakovich, who is interviewing Michael and inaugural WA star Ross Glendinning, tells a story about his own State of Origin experience and the bond it created with his Indigenous teammates when they would play state footy on a Tuesday night.

St Kilda and South Fremantle star Nicky Winmar played eight games for Western Australia between 1988 and 1997, teaming up with Jakovich for mid-week matches before lining up as opponents on the weekend. 

"We'd go back to clubland and we were playing St Kilda the following Saturday out at Waverley," Jakovich said.

"Nicky's back at the Saints, I'm at West Coast, and Nicky runs past and says, 'Hey bruz, how good was Tuesday night?'

"I say, 'Yeah it was pretty special'. Then Nicky gets the ball, sells a bit of candy, kicks a goal, and runs past. 'How good was it bruz?' And he just kept talking about Tuesday night. He loved the connection of Tuesday night and State of Origin.

"It was the last time I got to play State of Origin with Nicky, but we got to play representative footy and I hope this opportunity on Saturday night is the rebirth." 

'We'll respect your club's decisions'

ONE OF the modern challenges of Origin football is bringing a team of players and coaches together from across the AFL and trying to find a common language when 18 variations exist.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is used to speaking to his players about specific roles and structures in the Dockers' game, but if he used the same terminology with forwards Aaron Naughton and Mitch Georgiades, it would sound like gibberish.

"We all say it in a different language and in a different way, so trying to describe things in a common language has been a little bit tricky at times, because I'm so used to the way we talk about certain aspects of the game," Longmuir told AFL.com.au.

"It's been hard to find a common language at times and I've tried to avoid [Fremantle terms]. Not because I'm trying to hide something, just because the players will be like 'what are you talking about? What do you mean?'

"You might have a phrase for a part of the game, or you might have a word for a certain role, and they just won't know what you're talking about."

The solution for the WA coaches was to talk about the game in a more basic way, with the team holding three meetings, one main training session and a captain's run during its build-up.

The involvement of people like van Berlo and Longmuir, who also had a Fremantle intraclub in WA's south-west on Friday morning, as well as countless support staff, highlighted the keenness throughout the industry for Origin's return.  

They were committed from the outset to doing the right thing by the players' respective AFL clubs, although Cox couldn't resist an early joke about playing Opening Round opponent Cripps in the ruck for 120 minutes.

"It's a balance with everything that we do with something like this," Longmuir said.

"The main training session was probably the half of the distance that we do in a normal main training, and we're trying to respect what the clubs need out of it as well with their individual players.

"Plus, there's a lot of nervous energy around as well, and the players have got a lot on with school visits and other bits and pieces that they have to do. So you want to make sure that you're conserving their energy as well."

Rival stars become local heroes

The Black Swan, and how its traits can be transferred to the football field, was a theme for the WA team from its opening night in camp.

The native WA bird is aggressive, Cox said, and "that's how we want to play. Getting the ball back as quickly as we can, using our numbers when we can, and being aggressive with how we move the ball".

It is also observant and quick to react when going after its prey, as well as vocal and expressive. Perhaps most importantly, the Black Swan is highly territorial.

"Our territory is WA, but also Optus Stadium. So, it's the ability to make sure we own that space, so we take away time and space from the opposition as quickly as we can," Cox said.

The message about being territorial resonated for Sydney star Chad Warner, who is used to playing at Optus Stadium as the enemy but relished the chance to return home as a local hero in front of nearly 60,000 fans.

The 24-year-old was also king of the kids on Thursday afternoon when he visited his old primary school in Willetton alongside Jesse Hogan, answering questions on everything from how far he can kick a football to how many friends he had on his team.

Then a question came from a thoughtful grade four student: 'What does it feel like to play for WA?'

"It's sentimental and special for us coming back home to play for the state where we used to play when we were younger, especially after having a lot of time off from the State of Origin," Warner answers.

"We're very honoured and very excited to hopefully beat them as well. That's a great question."

Walking through Burrendah Primary School later on, a couple of kicks away from the school oval he still visits during the off-season, Warner spoke about the rivalry he already felt with Victoria as well as the passion he felt to defend his state as an Origin footballer. 

"That's something that Coxy was really bullish on, which is protecting your territory, and for us that is WA and Optus Stadium," Warner told AFL.com.au.

While students queued for autographs and photos with Warner in his home suburb, Hogan asked cheekily if any of the kids knew where he played his football. A few answered incorrectly, before one earned a fist bump for guessing Giants.

The beauty of Origin is Hogan, who grew up in Scarborough, will now be remembered by those young fans as a WA star after his five-goal performance, which earned him the Graham Moss Medal as his team's best player.

Those who missed out

On Friday, Cox called on one final guest speaker to give his team a different message to the one they had heard from past Origin greats.

The coach himself is part of a generation that didn't have the opportunity to play state football at the highest level, and so is the 2005 Brownlow medallist that he used to feed the football to at stoppages.

Ben Cousins was set to be part of the 1998 WA squad that lost to South Australia at Football Park, but he wasn't released by West Coast to play as AFL clubs increasingly held their stars out of Origin football.

The 47-year-old, who also took up a game-day role under Cox, addressed the WA team before their captain's run and had the players – including many who grew up idolising him – hanging on every word. 

"Ben's done a lot in footy and he's achieved a lot, but I just wanted someone to give a message that the opportunity these players have now is something he never had and he wished he had," Cox told AFL.com.au on the morning of the game. 

"It's just about how big the occasion is. I wanted them to know it's something that you should be really proud of and have great pride in being given that opportunity.

"We haven't had that for 28 years, and some of the best players have missed out on that opportunity."

One of the first and last messages delivered to the WA team last week was inspired by a newspaper spread in The West Australian that showed pictures of all 25 players when they were junior footballers. 

There's Liam Baker with Lake Grace-Pingrup, Tom Barrass – who was one of the most enthusiastic players about Origin's return – in a Scarborough Sea Eagles jumper, and Warner beaming with an Auskick medal.

Glendinning, who was a member of the inaugural 1977 WA team that took on Victoria in the first State of Origin game at Subiaco Oval, held up the article on Wednesday night while wearing his 1977 team pullover.  

"What I would like to think is that on Saturday, you will play with a view to inspiring the kids that are that age and have them come through and want to put on a WA jumper," Glendinning said.

"I think that is a responsibility for you. You might inspire someone."