Fixture 2026 Fixture

[WalshistheGOAT]

1 word:

Nasiah

You were bottom 4 for attendance in 2025 with Nasiah and have been for the last 3 years.

 

[doppleganger]

Would be amazing to have Collingwood visit Geelong.

Agree.

Be great to head down the highway instead of playing at Marvel.

But it is all commercial driven, so Pies will once again "host" the familiar Cats in a neutral game at the G.

The Cats will play the small teams down at Cat Park, and get a struggling Blues / Tigers down there in 2026.

 

[Mr Meow]

Agree.

Be great to head down the highway instead of playing at Marvel.

But it is all commercial driven, so Pies will once again "host" the familiar Cats in a neutral game at the G.

The Cats will play the small teams down at Cat Park, and get a struggling Blues / Tigers down there in 2026.

It would simply be amazing.

 

[420]

Has it been explained why pies/saints are playing OR when the entire purpose of OR is to advertise the game to the Northern states? How/why did they get the opportunity to play? Really should be the eagles dockers and/or crows power to drive the whole 'A' in afl

But nah fk it pies saints let's go

 

[Oscarman]

Has it been explained why pies/saints are playing OR when the entire purpose of OR is to advertise the game to the Northern states? How/why did they get the opportunity to play? Really should be the eagles dockers and/or crows power to drive the whole 'A' in afl

But nah fk it pies saints let's go

Hope the Pies smash them

 

[POSA98]

Once again we go with this shit concept of round zero or opening round. Another year of it and again the SA and WA teams aren’t being utilised. Notably from the VIC clubs only North Melbourne not used as Essendon were intended for last season and St Kilda are in 2026 albeit a game played in Melbourne.Why oh why do the AFL persist, let’s just get all 18 teams to kick off the season.

 

[Mentallo]

If the AFL are happy to start on Labour Day weekend then surely a 3:20 Labour Day blockbuster is up for grabs?

Geelong vs Essendon - Swap it between GMHBA and Marvel?

Also we can fill out week 1 surely?

Saturday -
North v West Coast - Bunbury
Port Adelaide v Richmond

Sunday -
Adelaide v Essendon
Fremantle v Melbourne

I still think you will get Blues v Tigers on Thurs 12th March.

 

[Billy ray]

Chuck in a Monday night showdown
Tuesday night derby
And who is left? Play them wed night and thursday night

 

[BrutThough]

Then why on earth have they put St Kilda on vs the Pies to start rd 0?

Plenty of other clubs would bring far more fans through the doors and eyeballs on the game vs the Pies than the Saints.

We pitched Ed Sheeran doing a pre-game performance.

 

[parano1a]

Would be amazing to have Collingwood visit Geelong.

Given Collingwood are locked in for 14 MCG and 3 Marvel games, a GMHBA away game would mean one less interstate away game, which would no doubt lead to more whining from the usual pundits.

 

[parano1a]

That is absurd. Fair enough a club decides where to play their home games. But why should a team get to dictate where some of their away games are held? Those away games are the home games of other clubs.

Where do you think Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Melbourne and Hawthorn should play their home games against Collingwood?

 

[STPer18]

Hoping for a non-threatening cyclone to ruin flOpening Round again.

 

[blueiris]

Lions continue to get the rough end of the pineapple getting the worst drawing crowd on the out of the 5 games on away out the way Sunday timeslot so much for being back-to-back champions

 

[kirky]

Agree.

Be great to head down the highway instead of playing at Marvel.

But it is all commercial driven, so Pies will once again "host" the familiar Cats in a neutral game at the G.

The Cats will play the small teams down at Cat Park, and get a struggling Blues / Tigers down there in 2026.

It isn’t just commercial driven, it is also so the honchos at AFL Head Office can hit one of their KPIs and get their bonus.

 

[Walshawk]

Easy solution is not to have the same teams playing these made up marquee games like ANZAC Day, Easter Monday, King's Birthday etc...

They are the three best days of the home and away season. The competing clubs have made it such due to how the clubs have presented the day (Anzac & KB) and the quality of the games (Easter M). Any other clubs playing would be halve the crowd. North Melbourne with Good Friday has proved that by putting a game in a stand along slot and calling it a ‘blockbuster’ does not make it such.

 

[Clark G]

Where do you think Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Melbourne and Hawthorn should play their home games against Collingwood?

The games can be at the MCG if those clubs choose but it should be up to the hosting clubs.

 

[Hawkk]

They are the three best days of the home and away season. The competing clubs have made it such due to how the clubs have presented the day (Anzac & KB) and the quality of the games (Easter M). Any other clubs playing would be halve the crowd. North Melbourne with Good Friday has proved that by putting a game in a stand along slot and calling it a ‘blockbuster’ does not make it such.

KB and Easter Monday wasn’t a great draw in the decade leading up to 1999 and 2010. In fact the first Melb v Coll KB game only drew 40,000. It’s fanciful to think that these games would attract anywhere near the crowds these do without the clubs involved (ditto Rich v Carl which is now just a early season Thursday Night game - but still draws massive crowds).

 

[Hawkk]

The games can be at the MCG if those clubs choose but it should be up to the hosting clubs.

Collingwood’s deal is really no different to the deal Essendon had at Marvel in 2000 to 2025. Both stadiums need the two biggest clubs to anchor the season. The 14 MCG games is just good business for the AFL, the MCC and the 8-9 Victorian clubs that host Collingwood at the MCG.

No doubt St Kilda - who have bugger all season ticket holders - will get a massive pay day (like the Dogs last year) from the huge number of Collingwood fans that will fill the stadium.

 

[beside the seaside]

Hope the Pies smash them

Lol why?

It's so bizarre how triggered people are getting by us getting a most likely one off decent blockbuster fixture. After the offseason we had the interest in us will be high to start the year, the game will get 80k plus easily it makes total sense as a fixture to get the most out of this particular matchup. But people whinge because it's not Geelong or some other big club playing the match.

Round 0 is a joke but the Saints Pies fixture makes total sense.

 

[beside the seaside]

Collingwood’s deal is really no different to the deal Essendon had at Marvel in 2000 to 2025. Both stadiums need the two biggest clubs to anchor the season. The 14 MCG games is just good business for the AFL, the MCC and the 8-9 Victorian clubs that host Collingwood at the MCG.

No doubt St Kilda - who have bugger all season ticket holders - will get a massive pay day (like the Dogs last year) from the huge number of Collingwood fans that will fill the stadium.

How is that different to any club that plays home games against Collingwood?

 

[OhhhhhCyril]

Collingwood… we don’t like opening round.. we don’t like to travel..

AFL.. fine how about you stay home and just play at G like normal.. that’s a pissweak decision that completely undermines the whole purpose of having the opening round.

 

[Hawkk]

How is that different to any club that plays home games against Collingwood?

Melbourne aside all other MCG clubs have 20,000 to 30,000 member reserves for their members. This is just a clean stadium so St Kilda can sell (and extort) over priced tickets to Collingwood fans. It’s a good grift.

The Dogs did it last year too (in round 2)

 

[manicmagpie]

Then why on earth have they put St Kilda on vs the Pies to start rd 0?

Plenty of other clubs would bring far more fans through the doors and eyeballs on the game vs the Pies than the Saints.

Collingwood v St Kilda is actually the perfect game to give extra promotion to. It has the potential to be way bigger than an ordinary game between the two would be.

A Coll/Carl or other similar game would be bigger, but they would also generally be huge anytime. Coll/StK has shown it can bring big crowds in the past but there’s also a few mediocre (for Collingwood) ones as well.

 

[Hawkk]

Collingwood… we don’t like opening round.. we don’t like to travel..

AFL.. fine how about you stay home and just play at G like normal.. that’s a pissweak decision that completely undermines the whole purpose of having the opening round.

In Collingwood’s defence there is no value in this game for them. All it means for the fifth year in a row they start the season with an away game.

The Hawks have the same issue - with the away game against GWS followed by Essendon it means we don’t get a home game until at least the third game of the season.

 

[Hawkk]

Collingwood v St Kilda is actually the perfect game to give extra promotion to. It has the potential to be way bigger than an ordinary game between the two would be.

A Coll/Carl or other similar game would be bigger, but they would also generally be huge anytime. Coll/StK has shown it can bring big crowds in the past but there’s also a few mediocre (for Collingwood) ones as well.

The question is, would the AFL schedule this as a Collingwood home game or is it just another example where they use Collingwood fans to prop up the smaller Vic clubs?

I don’t see how Collingwood gain in that fixture at all, it’s just another example where they start the season as the away team and give another pay day to another club. Collingwood have been the away team in every opening round season all the way back to 2021 - they were hosted by St Kilda, Geelong, GWS (x2) and now St Kilda again.