There's just over a month until the 27-year wait for best-on-best Aussie Rules football is over, with the AFL Origin clash between Victoria and Western Australia to take centre stage on Valentine's Day.
One concern that has arose from cynics regarding the representative game is how much the participating players will buy into the clash, given its proximity in time to Opening Round, as well as the lack of stakes in the game, which hasn't had the luxury of being developed over the course of 40-plus years, like it has in the NRL's New South Wales-Queensland rivalry.
However, star teammates turned rivals Jesse Hogan and Toby Greene believe that is far from being an issue, as the Giants pair revel in the opportunity to play against each other in what is much more than just a regular pre-season fixture.
"It's not going to be an exhibition match by any stretch. It's going to be very serious," Hogan told Channel 7 on Tuesday.
"It'll be weird to see a few of my teammates wearing the Big V. Us West Australians, have already got a group chat going.
"There's already a bit of banter and chat going on at our club. We can't wait; it's going to be that time of year where everyone takes it seriously.
"It's close enough to games where it's not going to be an exhibition match. The closer we get, the more hype will build around it, and it's going to be super exciting."
Hogan features in arguably Western Australia's most potent line, alongside 60-goal kicker Aaron Naughton, Power spearhead Mitch Georgiades, and excitement machines Kysaiah Pickett, Charlie Cameron and Shai Bolton in the forward 50.
"It's a solid line-up, I know a lot of those guys and played against a lot of them, and they've been a nightmare, so to play alongside those guys is going to be awesome," Hogan said.
GWS captain Toby Greene was selected for the clash in early December and provided a similar sentiment on just how important the players view the game on the football calendar.
"Hopefully this is here to stay, this is certainly not an exhibition game," Greene said.
"It's something we've never got to do, me and Hogan. Playing [representative] football or international rules... Everyone will be going as hard as they can.
"It's going to be awesome playing in front of 60 thousand in Perth. It's a great time of the year to do it, and it'll be a real pleasure to do it alongside all of those guys [other Victorians]."
AFL Origin's clash between Victoria and Western Australia will take place on February 14th at Optus Stadium, with the first bounce scheduled for 4:40pm/7:40pm (AWST/AEDT).
