Essendon and Melbourne draw short straws for Gather Round
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The AFL has baulked at having an Adelaide Showdown for Gather Round next season to offset the two local teams gaining an extra home ground advantage.
Instead, the league has drawn Melbourne and Essendon as the two clubs required to play Adelaide and Port respectively as the away teams. No other teams play sides with a home ground advantage.
North Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions did battle in the Adelaide Hills during the inaugural Gather Round.Credit: AFL Photos
Adelaide will host Melbourne to begin the round on Thursday April 4, with Port hosting Essendon the next night at the same ground.
Two games will be played at Norwood Oval, two in the Adelaide Hills and the remainder at Adelaide Oval.
There will be a double-header at Adelaide Oval on the Saturday with Carlton “hosting” Fremantle at 3.50pm local time before Geelong and the Dogs play the evening match.
Brisbane and North will play a twilight game at Norwood on the Friday.
On the Sunday, Gold Coast and GWS will play the early game in the Adelaide Hills starting at midday before Richmond and the Saints play at Norwood in a match starting at 2.50pm. Collingwood and Hawthorn will close out the round with a 4.40pm match at Adelaide Oval – where new Hawk Jack Ginnivan will play his Pies premiership teammates for the first time.
“Gather Round 2023 created a small slice of football history – all 18 clubs in the one state at the one time for a full round of nine matches and a celebration of footy,” AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said as he announced the fixture in Adelaide with South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas.
“Last year’s Gather Round had the wonderful feel of a grand final week, from the footy festival and the zip line over the Torrens River, to the community engagement activities and all the open training sessions the clubs held around the town, it was just an incredibly fun atmosphere which we are looking to top next season.”
Two hundred and eighty thousand people attended the nine matches in the inaugural Gather Round last year, which added one extra round to the season.
It was estimated 40,000 people travelled interstate for the round last year and the league and SA government were forecasting that many more would want to travel for the round next season after the popularity of last year’s inaugural round.
Virgin has added more flights for the weekend.
“Visitors who came to South Australia for the inaugural Gather Round loved it, and those who missed out wished they were here,” Malinauskas said.
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