West Australian key forward Jake Waterman says it will be an “indictment” if players do not go “flat out” in Saturday’s AFL Origin clash against Victoria.

The West Coast spearhead, who will be making his Origin debut more than a quarter of a century after his father Chris captained WA, said there was too much on the line not to go at 100 per cent.

“I don’t understand the chat about it not being fair dinkum,” he said.

“We’ve brought the State of Origin back for a reason, because it’s such a rich history, and it’d be an indictment on the game if blokes are going to rock up and not go flat out.”

All-Australian Waterman, 27, said the message from his WA captain Patrick Cripps, coach Dean Cox and chairman of selectors Glen Jakovich was “we’re playing to win”.

“They’re coming over here in our backyard, so we’re going to protect that. State pride’s on the line. So as soon as you throw that in the ring, yeah, she’ll be on.”

Asked if that meant he might take some “casualties” if any Victorian player got in his way on the long lead, Waterman said: “Absolutely. It’s a game of footy... there will be a few nervous boys sitting in the hole I would have thought – at both ends.”

Waterman was one of the last players called into the 25-man WA squad, which will assemble for the first time on Wednesday.

His father, a dual premiership player with the Eagles, represented WA five times at Origin level before the interstate representative clash became a casualty of the expanded national competition.

“He played in the great era where State of Origin was thriving, so I guess it’s our job now to make sure that that starts back now and stays,” he said, acknowledging he felt a “responsibility” to make the first Origin game since 1999 a success.

“100 per cent. Fans and players been calling out for something like this to come back to life. There’s a sense of responsibility, but it’s not something we’re going to think about, because we’re just going to go out there and try and win a game of footy.

“It’s one of the greater honours that you can get as an individual sportsman, playing in a team sport. I’ve been very lucky to play for WA a lot of times during my junior days, so I sort of know that the weight and the honour of what it feels like to chuck the jumper on.

“To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to get the opportunity to do it again, so to be able to do it at a senior AFL level is probably a different kettle of fish to the junior days, but the sentiment of wearing the black and gold is always the same.

“It means so much, The Black Swan versus the Big V. There’s got to be a little moment out there on Saturday night where I do get chills looking across at someone else’s Big V on their chest and go, ‘How good’s that?’ But I’ll probably get even more of a chill when I look down and see the Black Swan on me again.”

It will be Waterman’s first game since round 12 of last season when he injured a shoulder and was sent in for surgery, but he said there would be no limits on how long he could play against the Big V and no one was happier for him to be selected than his West Coast coach Andrew McQualter.

“He was absolutely rapt for me. He knew how bad that I wanted it,” Waterman said.

“We’ve been doing just about 100 minutes of match sim with training and I doubt I’ll reach 100 minutes on the weekend, so anything that I’m exposed to on Saturday night I’ve already been exposed to over the last couple of weeks. There’s no worries from a sports science point of view.

“I’ve been going pretty hard throughout pre-season. I’ve exposed myself to heaps of contests. I’ve flown for heaps of marks, come down on my arse a few times - and I actually don’t mind getting hit, it makes me feel a little alive a little bit.”