{"id":526419,"date":"2026-03-08T08:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526419\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T08:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:55:09","slug":"follow-afl-opening-round-2026-results-odds-squads-and-start-time-from-mcg-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526419\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow AFL opening round 2026, results, odds, squads and start time from MCG, Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Magpies make their way out on to the field accompanied by a typically boisterous cheer.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first time in coach Craig McRae\u2019s tenure he is without defensive pillars Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe in the same team.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Here we go: Magpies coach Craig McRae.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0f4f4b643666f7cec5b7b093415636fedf6cdc17.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here we go: Magpies coach Craig McRae.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>McRae said he is confident the Magpies have the depth to cover for his two stars.<\/p>\n<p>The Saints now head out to battle, on a night the club wants to make a statement in a rare blockbuster, standalone clash.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA little bit of anxiety, but I know we have done the work \u2026 proof will be in the pudding,\u201d Saints coach Ross Lyon told Seven.<\/p>\n<p>Lyon said the Saints have to handle the Magpies\u2019 \u201coutside game and counter punch\u201d, and not be \u201ctoo cute\u201d with the ball in hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Magpies make their way out on to the field accompanied by a typically boisterous cheer. This is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-526419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526419","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=526419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}