Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe are celebrating ANZAC round. Always wonderful to see the observance\u00a0ceremony, the two sides facing off against each other,\u201d Fox Footy\u2019s Mark Howard said before the game between the Dogs and Swans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonderful observance ceremony to kick off ANZAC appeal round.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many viewers were happy to witness the ceremony, some fans and reporters took to social media to share their belief that pre-game observance on ANZAC Day should only be held at games held on ANZAC Day, not across the entire round. <\/p>\n
Matt Nicholls wrote on X: \u201cThere is no such thing as ANZAC Round.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will die on this hill. The AFL led the way and now everyone is cashing in on the most important day on the Australian calendar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more we hold such ceremonies the more diluted they become. Preserve ANZAC Day. Lest we forget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sports reporter Oliver Caffrey replied: \u201cAnd they\u2019ll say no to Mental Health round because there\u2019s already too many themed rounds. It only needs to be ANZAC Day, and the Richmond-Melbourne game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Code Sports\u2019 Daniel Cherny said: \u201cRemember when ANZAC Day was actually just one day?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Leach wrote: \u201cANZAC Day\u2019s on Saturday. Not today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Lloyd said: \u201cIf the #AFL want to truly respect ANZAC Day I don\u2019t believe they should observe the day when it isn\u2019t the day. It\u2019s our nation\u2019s most important day. The most unifying we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richmond play the Melbourne Demons on Friday night in what is now known as the ANZAC Eve clash, before Collingwood take on Essendon in the showpiece game on ANZAC Day. <\/p>\n
In the NRL, the Sydney Roosters play the St George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday in the traditional clash at Allianz Stadium, where the Roosters are heavily favoured after the Dragons sacked coach Shane Flanagan.<\/p>\n
On Thursday night, the Raiders and Tigers commemorated ANZAC Day with respective captains Jarome Luai and Joe Tapine laying wreaths on the field before a pre-game commemoration ceremony. <\/p>\n
Fox League\u2019s Dan Ginnane said: \u201cJoe Tapine, the New Zealand champion, and Jarome Luai, leading out the Wests Tigers. They come out in a wonderful Wembley style formation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the case for all eight games as Anzac Day, Anzac round, properly observed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After The Ode and The Last Post, he added: \u201cWe\u2019ll hear that eight times over the weekend and somehow it won\u2019t get old.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking pre-game, Tapine explained the significance of Canberra\u2019s commemorative jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually a Navy jersey, HMAS Harman. It\u2019s a huge round, ANZAC Round, always is.\u201d <\/p>\n
Former NRL players spoke on Fox League\u2019s coverage about the honour of playing on ANZAC Day and the effort clubs go to educate players on the history of the occasion and the sacrifices made.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s humbling,\u201d Cooper Cronk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClubs and players try and do as much as they can to have a connection and deeper understanding of what ANZAC Day means to service men and women. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you played for the Roosters vs the Dragons, you didn\u2019t have to do too much to understand the magnitude. It was almost there in the stadium when you arrived and put your boots on. There is a different feeling on the football field that day. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be part of that day and play a small part,\u201d Michael Ennis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than going to a Dawn Service, you can sneak home for a quick kip afterwards and charge into three footy games in the afternoon. It\u2019s a ripping day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yvonne Sampson added: \u201cI just think the NRL and all the clubs do it so respectfully and it is something very unique to any other weekend of the year. Very much looking forward to the next four days.\u201d<\/p>\n
All 18 AFL clubs will feature the ANZAC logo on their guernseys for Round 7 with most of the teams wearing a special strip for this weekend\u2019s games.<\/p>\n
Many of the guernseys will be auctioned off to raise funds for the RSL\u2019s ANZAC Appeal<\/a>, a major national annual fundraiser. <\/p>\nWith ANZAC Day falling on a Saturday this year, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the state would have a public holiday on Monday, April 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFL and NRL rounds kicked off on Thursday night with pre-game ceremonies to commemorate ANZAC Day. Both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,277557,85],"class_list":["post-626541","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-ncaeditorialkayoprogram","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626541","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=626541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}