State of Origin squads revealed
The AFL has announced the teams for the State of Origin for Bushfire Relief match on Friday 28 February at Marvel Stadium.
54 players from across the competition, including five from NSW, will come together to raise funds for local footy clubs and families in Bushfire affected areas across Australia.
Grand Finalists Greater Western Sydney will have the equal biggest representation with six players named.
New GIANTS skipper Stephen Coniglio (All-Stars) will have five of his teammates – Coleman medallist Jeremy Cameron, Nick Haynes, Lachie Whitfield, Josh Kelly and Toby Greene – donning the Big V.
Sydney will be represented by Callum Mills (All-Stars), Jake Lloyd and Tom Papley, who will both be donning the famous Big V.
AFL NSW/ACT will be represented by five local players, with Taylor Walker (Broken Hill), Tom Hawkins (Finley), Luke Breust (Temora), Issac Smith (Wagga Wagga) and Callum Mills (Sydney) all named in the All-Stars squad.
Victorian coach Damien Hardwick and All Stars counterpart John Longmire agreed to ditch the original stipulation of having a maximum of three players from each AFL club to allow the best players in the competition to be involved.
The State of Origin match will raise money to boost a Community Relief Fund set up by the AFL to help rebuild football facilities ripped apart by the devastating bushfires.
The AFLW fixture between Collingwood and Melbourne will be played as the first part of a double-header before the State of Origin match.
It’s the first game of its kind since the 2008 Hall of Fame Tribute Match that saw Victoria beat the Dream Team by 17 points in front of 69,294 fans at the MCG.
