{"id":141316,"date":"2025-09-13T23:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T23:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/141316\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T23:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T23:52:09","slug":"rare-mcg-double-expected-to-draw-monster-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/141316\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare MCG double expected to draw monster crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__summary\">\n                There will be two preliminary finals at the MCG for just the 10th time\n            <\/p>\n<p>                                Geelong v Hawthorn and Collingwood v Brisbane. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n<p>WEEK three of the 2025 finals is set to deliver monster crowds, with the MCG to host both preliminary finals for just the second time since 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Victories by Geelong and Collingwood last weekend secured the MCG a prelim double, and interest in the two blockbusters has only increased now that Hawthorn and Brisbane have qualified, setting up two finals built on strong recent rivalries.<\/p>\n<p>&gt;&gt;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afl.com.au\/finals\/tickets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GET THE LATEST FINALS TICKETING INFO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>All four seasons between 2008 and 2011 featured two MCG prelims but since then, there has been at least one prelim played outside Victoria each year, except 2019.<\/p>\n<p>That 2019 season saw Richmond beat Geelong in front of a monster crowd of 94,423 on their way to its second of three premierships, before Collingwood hosted Greater Western Sydney the following evening.<\/p>\n<p>                    Dustin Martin celebrates Richmond&#8217;s victory over Geelong in the 2019 preliminary final. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n<p>That Magpies-Giants game drew a crowd of 77,828, with inclement weather and GWS&#8217;s small supporter base contributing to the crowd figure not climbing above 80,000.<\/p>\n<p>Since the top eight finals system &#8211; and two preliminary finals &#8211; was first introduced in 1994, the MCG has hosted both prelims on just nine occasions.<\/p>\n<p>While Melbourne&#8217;s long-range forecast shows a chance of rain this weekend, both finals are expected to draw huge numbers.<\/p>\n<p>As a guide, Brisbane&#8217;s win over Collingwood in round 21 drew a crowd of 82,326 at the MCG, while 88,746 watched the Easter Monday game between the Cats and Hawks back in April.<\/p>\n<p>That combined figure of 171,072 indicates the 172,251 people who attended the two prelims in 2019, the record for a prelim weekend, could be in danger.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for both matches will go on sale on Monday, with further on-sale information to be released on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Two preliminary finals at the MCG in the same season: 2025*, 2019, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997<\/p>\n<p>WEEK THREE FINALS FIXTURE<\/p>\n<p>FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19<\/p>\n<p>First preliminary final<br \/>Geelong v Hawthorn at the MCG, 7.40pm AEST<\/p>\n<p>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20<\/p>\n<p>Second preliminary final<br \/>Collingwood v Brisbane\u00a0at the MCG, 5.15pm AEST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be two preliminary finals at the MCG for just the 10th time Geelong v Hawthorn and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-141316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}