AFL chief tips record crowd for mid-week grand final rematch

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has raised the prospect of a new home and away attendance record being set when the season opens with a mid-week grand final rematch between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs as the league locked in round one ahead of the expected fixture release.

It won’t quite match the 140,000 people estimated to have watched American evangelist Billy Graham at the venue in 1959 but McLachlan tapped into Graham’s fervour by tipping the attendance for the match might go close to passing the record set in round 10, 1958 when Melbourne and Collingwood attracted 99,256 spectators.

“The feedback from Melbourne supporters is really strong, and I reckon we’re going to have huge games right the way through, and we’ll go close to selling out that Wednesday night,” McLachlan told reporters on Saturday morning.

“There’s a chance I think we have the biggest home-and-away crowd we’ve ever had in Melbourne, I really feel that’s a strong possibility.”

For the record, the biggest home-and-away crowd between the two clubs was in 2010 when 45,444 people flocked to the MCG to see the two clubs play out a thriller in round seven.

But it’s December, the town has been starved of football for most of the past two seasons and Melbourne will unveil a premiership flag for the first time in 57 years, so the league’s chief is entitled to some wild optimism with more than 72,704 spectators required to set a Wednesday night attendance record.

“I know there’s a bit of pain for people, a bit of a loss, particularly for the Melbourne supporters, but also for the Bulldogs supporters, who didn’t get to see the grand final [which was held in Perth, rather than the MCG],” McLachlan said.

“The more we talked about it, starting with the grand-final rematch made sense.

“We like the Carlton-Richmond slot on Thursday night, that’s got its own tradition and momentum now after about 15 years.”

What McLachlan could guarantee was that fans of all but three clubs would be able to see their team live in the opening round of the 2022 AFL season with all 10 Victorian teams to clash in the state over five consecutive days to fulfil their hunger.

In a nod to the opening game being played on a weeknight the match will begin at 7.10pm on Wednesday, March 16 with the Thursday night match between Carlton and Richmond to begin at 7.25pm and the Friday night match at Marvel Stadium between St Kilda and Collingwood to start at 7.50pm.

Geelong will play a home match against Essendon at the MCG on Saturday afternoon in the country game while Brisbane will host Port Adelaide at the Gabba on Saturday night. The Giants will play the Swans at Accor Stadium on twilight Saturday with Lance Franklin poised to kick his 1000th goal as he sits five short of the milestone.

On Sunday afternoon Sam Mitchell will guide his Hawks as coach for the first time against North Melbourne at the MCG while Adelaide will host Fremantle and West Coast will play Gold Coast as Victorians try to comprehend football being back.

It is the first time a grand final rematch has been held since round one, 2009, and six of the nine match-ups contain teams that have met each other in a grand final before.

The AFLW also released round 10 which is a floating round of matches leading into the finals that will be all played in Victoria at suburban grounds on the weekend before round one of the AFL, with most of the venues previously being traditional VFL/AFL venues.

The Victorian football extravaganza will see 11 AFLW and AFL matches played in the state in nine days.

AFL ROUND ONE MATCH-UPS

  • Wednesday March 16: Melbourne v Western Bulldogs, MCG, 7.10pm
  • Thursday March 17: Carlton v Richmond, MCG, 7.25pm
  • Friday March 18 Collingwood v St Kilda, Marvel Stadium, 7.50pm
  • Saturday March 19: Geelong v Essendon, MCG, 2.10pm
  • GWS v Sydney, Accor Stadium, 5.10pm
  • Brisbane Lions v Port Adelaide, The Gabba, 8.10pm
  • Sunday March 20: Hawthorn v North Melbourne, MCG, 1.10pm
  • Adelaide v Fremantle, Adelaide Oval, 4.10pm
  • West Coast v Gold Coast, Optus Stadium, 7.40pm

AFLW Round 10 (March 11-13, floating fixture)

  • Collingwood v Gold Coast, Victoria Park
  • Geelong v GWS, GMHBA Stadium
  • Melbourne v Carlton, Casey Fields
  • Kangaroos v West Coast, Arden Street
  • Richmond v Brisbane Lions, Swinburne Centre
  • St Kilda v Adelaide, RSEA Park
  • Western Bulldogs v Fremantle, Mars Stadium

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