State of Origin football is coming back to Perth next summer. The AFL has confirmed Western Australia will host South Australia at Optus Stadium on Saturday 27 February 2027, with the first bounce at 4.40pm.
The announcement, made on Wednesday morning, settles the date for a match the league had flagged earlier but never pinned down. It will be South Australia's first elite Origin game in close to 30 years, and the first time the two states have met under Origin rules since 1998.
The details
The match starts at 4.40pm AWST, which is 7.10pm in Adelaide and 7.40pm on the east coast. That puts it in prime time for the national TV audience while keeping it a late-afternoon game for the Perth crowd.
Tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster. Club members get first access from 2 December, and general public sales open on 3 December. Perth is OK reports both sales start at 9am AWST.
Coaches and captains for both states have not been named yet. The AFL says they will be confirmed over the coming months.
The game lands two weeks later in the calendar than this year's Origin match. The 2027 AFL season will start late, on 17 or 18 March, because Australia hosts England in a cricket Test from 11 to 15 March.
What happened last time
Origin returned on 14 February 2026 after a 27-year break, when WA hosted Victoria in front of a sold-out crowd of 58,141 at Optus Stadium. Victoria won 18.17 (125) to 15.11 (101).
WA was coached by Dean Cox and captained by Patrick Cripps. Jesse Hogan kicked five goals and won the Graham Moss Medal as WA's best player. South Australia was left out of that revival, which makes this confirmation a big one for footy fans on both sides of the Nullarbor.
"We are thrilled to officially confirm a date for AAMI AFL Origin in 2027." — Andrew Dillon, AFL chief executive
Dillon said Optus Stadium had provided an incredible stage for Origin's return, and thanked Premier Roger Cook and the WA Government for their support. The match is being backed by the State Government through Tourism WA.
Two big anniversaries
The timing is not an accident. 2027 marks 50 years since the very first Australian Rules State of Origin match, played at Subiaco Oval in 1977 between Western Australia and Victoria. It is also the 150th anniversary of the SANFL, which gives South Australia its own reason to make the trip west.
WA and SA have one of the oldest rivalries in interstate football, and their Origin clashes drew big crowds through the 1980s and 1990s before the concept lapsed at elite level.
What comes after
The AFL has already mapped out the next two years of the revived format. In 2028 South Australia hosts Victoria at Adelaide Oval, and in 2029 the series returns to Optus Stadium for Western Australia against Victoria.
Why it matters to Perth
If 2026 is a guide, the 2027 game will sell out quickly. It gives Perth another marquee event in a busy late-summer stretch and another chance for WA fans to see their best players in one side. With selections still months away, the debate over who pulls on the black swan jumper has already started.
Sources: AFL.com.au, Perth is OK, ABC News, and the AFL statement as posted by @footyindustryAU.
Photo: Optus Stadium at night from the Burswood foreshore, by Starfizzure via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). File photo.
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