‘An absolute advantage’: Why Chris Scott’s Origin job could make rival coaches fume

Speaking of amusing video clips. Carlton players are still defending their skill levels after footage of a pre-season training drill went viral a fortnight ago. For all the wrong reasons.

It seems skipper Patrick Cripps, who has carried the club on his shoulders with Atlas-like reliability in recent years, is carrying the blame for this one as well.

“It was our mate Cripp,” teammate Jacob Weitering said of the video that showed a number of skill errors, including a butchered left-foot kick from the Carlton skipper that was so far off the mark it cleared the boundary and landed in the Ikon Park stands.

“He had a bit of a laugh at it. It’s very hard to take a 30-40 second clip out of context in a three-hour training session.”

Sorry, Jacob, we think you mean “easy” in this instance. As in, easy to take out of context. Well, at least we hope so.

“I think most teams would have moments like that within training,” Weitering continued before boarding a plane for Perth for the coming AFL Origin clash.

“If you’re talking about a two-time Brownlow medallist, five-time best-and-fairest winner and champion of the game in that manner, I’d be concerning myself with something different.”

Sorry for being concerned, Jacob, but we are worried this footage of sloppy foot skills could come back to haunt the Blues during the season.

“No, I don’t think so,” he countered.

“We’ve been pretty focused on, you know, what we can do inhouse and what we can control and for the most part, it’s been a very hot pre-season, genuine.

“We’ve had some great guys come into the club. The vibes a little bit different. It’s refreshing. So we’ll see round zero.”

Of course, come “round zero”, Weitering is likely to line up on ex-teammate and now Sydney Swan Charlie Curnow.

“There’s been conversations about it,” Weitering said. “We’ve played 10 years together, we’re great mates, so I’m certainly looking forward to the match-up, and there’ll be 120 minutes to see who comes out on top.”

As far as precious cargo goes, the 1.30pm Virgin flight to Perth on Wednesday was stacked with some of the AFL’s greatest possessions. The State Of Origin playing group that is.

And while the Big Vic’s hierarchy – chief motivator Garry Lyon, coach Chris Scott and captain Marcus Bontempelli – were seated at the pointy end of the jet, the tall timber found themselves planted towards the middle of the plane.

Why? Extra leg room. The emergency exits became a veritable land of the giants.

Seated across rows 15 and 16 were Tim English, Sam Darcy, Darcy Cameron, Max Gawn, Rory Lobb, Jacob Weitering, Tom Barrass and Aaron Naughton. Not a crumbing forward in sight.

But even with the extra room, the big fellas still spent time in and out of their seats, stretching their extra-long legs and striding down the aisle to keep from seizing up.

It’s the question on every nervous footy fan’s lips as a plane load of the state’s best talent jets west for AFL Origin – how do they avoid coming back injured?

Carlton fans would be top of that list. Could the long-suffering Blues fans endure a large chunk of the season without Patrick Cripps or Jacob Weitering?

Not that the Magpie Army would be far behind them in the anxiety stakes. They would love to see Darcy Cameron and Nick Daicos fly back from WA in one piece.

But fear not. The secret to staying injury free, according to Cameron, is to not think about getting injured. Let’s hope he’s never heard of Murphy’s Law.

“It’s the first game, sort of, pre-season, so you want to treat it like a proper game, a proper hit-out,” the reigning Magpies best and fairest said before boarding the flight.

“We’ll be going out all guns blazing. I feel like anytime you go out there and try not to get injured, is when is you get injured.”

Weitering dismissed concerns that the match would become a bruise-free exhibition match. Which is probably not what the Blues faithful want to hear.

“I just think it’s going to be hot,” the Blues defender said. “Boys are going to compete for the jumper and each other.

“It’s an opportunity that you just don’t get regularly. And we’ve seen, it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do it, so I think the first 10 minutes is, you know, there’s going to be a few contests.”

What happens if one of those contests involves the Blues skipper? What will Weitering prioritise if he finds Cripps between himself and the ball on Saturday.

“It’ll be done fairly but, but it’ll be a hell of a contest for sure,” he said.

Weitering said he was not worried about getting injured when he takes the field against Western Australia.

“The preparation, the time that has been put into it, the team that we’ve got around us, the trainers, the doctors, the communication between the clubs and the AFL, I think, has been pretty good,” he said.

Weitering expected every players’ game time to be managed.

“We’ve got 25 guys per team, so the rotations in some pretty hot weather will be handy.

“As Darcy said, if you go out thinking of maybe going at 80 or 90 per cent, that’s when you do get injured.”

So, rest assured club land fans – your precious players are in safe hands. Fingers crossed, touch wood.

In 2023, as the NRL’s annual State of Origin campaign captured attention around Australia again, we looked back at the AFL’s state v state match-ups, and why they died out. Now, on the eve of the AFL’s State of Origin return, we revisit the history.

Read the piece here.

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the lead-up to the return of State of Origin. This will be your one-stop shop for the inside word on what’s happening on the ground (and in the air) as players and coaches gather before Saturday night’s match between Victoria and Western Australia.

Stay tuned!

Danny Russell travelled to Perth with the support of the AFL.