The MCG will host its first game of the 2026 AFL Premiership Season in Opening Round before a massive four fixtures across Round 1 in what is set to be another huge football season at the \u2018G.<\/p>\n
As previously announced by the AFL, St Kilda will play a home game against Collingwood on Sunday March 8, with the league now confirming the traditional Thursday night Round 1 match between rivals Carlton and Richmond will take place on March 12.<\/p>\n
Essendon and Hawthorn will once again play on the Friday night of Round 1 after attracting more than 80,000 fans to the \u2018G in the first round of the 2025 AFL season.<\/p>\n
Along with St Kilda, the Geelong Cats will call the MCG home for one game in 2026, taking on Collingwood under lights on Saturday May 9.<\/p>\n
Reigning premiers, the Brisbane Lions, will return to the MCG for the first time since this year\u2019s Grand Final in Round 6 to face Melbourne.<\/p>\n
In the first 15 rounds, the MCG will host four Thursday night matches and five Friday night games.<\/p>\n
Dates and times of fixtures from Rounds 16-24 will be confirmed in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MCC member arrangements will be communicated closer to the start of the 2026 AFL Premiership Season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MCG Fixture – 2026 AFL Premiership Season
\nRound 0 (Opening Round)<\/p>\n
Sunday March 8, 7:20pm: St Kilda v Collingwood<\/p>\n
Round 1<\/p>\n
Thursday March 12, 7.30pm: Carlton v Richmond
Friday March 13, 7.40pm: Essendon v Hawthorn
Saturday March 14, 7.35pm: Collingwood v Adelaide Crows
Sunday March 15, 3.15pm: Melbourne v St Kilda<\/p>\n
Round 2<\/p>\n
Thursday March 19, 7.30pm: Hawthorn v Sydney Swans
Saturday March 21, 1.15pm: Richmond v Gold Coast SUNS<\/p>\n
Round 3<\/p>\n
Sunday March 29, 3.15pm: Carlton v Melbourne<\/p>\n
Round 4<\/p>\n
Saturday April 4, 4.15pm: Richmond v Port Adelaide
Sunday April 5, 3.15pm: Melbourne v Gold Coast SUNS
Monday April 6, 3.15pm: Hawthorn v Geelong Cats<\/p>\n
Round 5 (Gather Round in Adelaide)
\nRound 6<\/p>\n
Thursday April 16, 7.30pm: Carlton v Collingwood
Sunday April 19, 3.15pm: Melbourne v Brisbane Lions<\/p>\n
Round 7<\/p>\n
Friday April 24, 7.40pm: Richmond v Melbourne
Saturday April 25, 3.15pm: Essendon v Collingwood<\/p>\n
Round 8<\/p>\n
Thursday April 30, 7.30pm: Collingwood v Hawthorn<\/p>\n
Round 9<\/p>\n
Saturday May 9, 7.35pm: Geelong Cats v Collingwood
Sunday May 10, 3.15pm: Richmond v Adelaide Crows<\/p>\n
Round 10<\/p>\n
Saturday May 16, 4.15pm: Melbourne v Hawthorn
Sunday May 17, 1.10pm: Essendon v Fremantle<\/p>\n
Round 11<\/p>\n
Friday May 22, 7.40pm: Richmond v Essendon
Saturday May 23, 4.35pm: Collingwood v West Coast Eagles<\/p>\n
Round 12<\/p>\n
Friday May 29, 7.40pm: Carlton v Geelong Cats<\/p>\n
Round 13<\/p>\n
Friday June 5, 7.40pm: Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs
Sunday June 7, 7.20pm: Essendon v Carlton
Monday June 8, 3.15pm: Collingwood v Melbourne<\/p>\n
Round 14<\/p>\n
Saturday June 13, 1.15pm: Melbourne v Essendon<\/p>\n
Round 15<\/p>\n
Saturday June 20, 7.35pm: Collingwood v Port Adelaide
Sunday June 21, 1.10pm: Richmond v North Melbourne<\/p>\n
Note: Dates and times of fixtures from Rounds 16-24 below will be confirmed in 2026.<\/p>\n
Round 16<\/p>\n
Hawthorn v GWS GIANTS
Collingwood v Richmond<\/p>\n
Round 17<\/p>\n
Richmond v Carlton<\/p>\n
Round 18<\/p>\n
Melbourne v Richmond
Carlton v Hawthorn<\/p>\n
Round 19<\/p>\n
Collingwood v Carlton
Richmond v Hawthorn<\/p>\n
Round 20<\/p>\n
Hawthorn v Essendon
Melbourne v Geelong Cats<\/p>\n
Round 21<\/p>\n
Richmond v West Coast Eagles
Collingwood v Geelong Cats<\/p>\n
Round 22<\/p>\n
Melbourne v Fremantle<\/p>\n
Round 23<\/p>\n
Richmond v St Kilda
Essendon v Sydney Swans
Hawthorn v Collingwood<\/p>\n
Round 24<\/p>\n
Collingwood v Brisbane Lions
Melbourne v Western Bulldogs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The MCG will host its first game of the 2026 AFL Premiership Season in Opening Round before a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-379191","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"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379191","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=379191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}