AFL Origin: Caleb Serong will want to ruffle our feathers, says Fremantle Dockers teammate Luke Jackson

State v State. Mate v Mate.

Fremantle’s multi-position player Luke Jackson has represented his country as a junior basketballer, played in an AFL premiership with Melbourne.

And now he is on the cusp of living his State-of-Origin dream.

The 24-year-old is one of three Dockers selected in the WA squad for the sold-out February 14 AFL Origin clash against Victoria at Optus Stadium, alongside Shai Bolton and Jordan Clark.

Fremantle teammate Caleb Serong will also play AFL Origin, but as a Victorian players, with fellow midfielder Andrew Brayshaw a strong chance to be added to the squad next week.

“He’ll probably ruffle some feathers in there (Serong) but it’ll be good to play against him, having played with him for so long,” Jackson said.

“There has been a little bit of banter. I’m just looking forward to matching it with the best in the comp. I think it’s great how the AFL has brought it back in and hopefully it can stay.”

Jackson is expected to play as an inside-midfielder and back-up to ruck Darcy Cameron, with Tim English another option yet to be named in the squad.

“He’s the best ruck in the competition and it’s just another opportunity to go match up against the best. There’s nothing better than having a hit out like that (in the pre-season) given the season the comes after it,” he said.

“The challenge of going up against some of the best players in the company will only help my game, and I’ll be able to take a lot of learnings out of it.

“That’ll be a great game just to play anywhere. Even on the bench.

“I can’t wait. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know it will be like, if it will be a hard start but I’m looking forward to play with guys like Crippa (Patrick Cripps) and all the stars of the comp.”

Jackson was born in 2001, two years after the last State-of-Origin match was played - and nine years after WA took on the Big V for the last time in 1992.

Now he is an integral part of the revival.

“I like seeing YouTube clips of it. They went pretty hard back then, so hopefully it’s pretty similar,” he said.

Carlton superstar Patrick Cripps will captain WA with Western Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli selected to lead Victoria.

WA will be coached by Sydney mentor and West Coast premiership great Dean Cox, who told The West Australian he would pay the Big V midfield due respect but it won’t stop him leaning on his team’s own strengths, signalling Jackson would be a key weapon.

“They (Victoria) have talent across all the lines, but when you pin it up against WA and some of the best games of Chad Warner, Kozzie (Kysaiah) Pickett, Patrick Cripps and Luke Jackson, it’s just as good,” Cox said.

The game will be televised on Channel 7 with Brian Taylor and James Brayshaw to call the play-by-play commentary, joined by Seven expert commentators Kane Cornes, Luke Hodge and Abbey Holmes.

West Coast legend Nic Naitanui will provide insight from the boundary.

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