With the 2026 Toyota AFL home-and-away season drawing to its closing stages, the Australian Football League has officially confirmed the full match schedules for the penultimate and final rounds of regular season play, headlined by a rare historic event that has only taken place three other times in the competition’s 150-plus year history.
The action for Round 23 will get underway on a prime Friday night slot at Perth’s Optus Stadium, where the competition’s current ladder leaders, the Fremantle Dockers, will go head-to-head with the resilient Adelaide Crows. The following Saturday brings a packed slate of matches with direct, high-stakes implications for teams still vying for a spot in the upcoming finals series. Geelong Cats will travel to Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium to take on North Melbourne, while the Brisbane Lions will host the Gold Coast Suns at Brisbane’s iconic Gabba ground.
The standout highlight of Round 23 is a men’s double-header hosted at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, widely known as the sport’s Victorian colosseum. This rare back-to-back match event will mark just the fourth time such a scheduling arrangement has occurred in AFL history. Opening the MCG’s Saturday matchday at 12:35 pm, Richmond will face off against St Kilda, with the nightcap kicking off at 7:40 pm between Hawthorn and traditional powerhouse Collingwood.
Moving into Round 24, the final round of the home-and-away season, play will kick off on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium, where St Kilda will play host to the Gold Coast Suns. The round’s marquee Friday night fixture at the MCG will serve as a highly anticipated rematch of the 2023 AFL Grand Final, pitting Collingwood against the Brisbane Lions.
Saturday of Round 24 brings a full day of consequential matches that will all impact the final ladder standings and which teams will earn the critical advantage of home finals during the September playoffs. Carlton will face Fremantle at Marvel Stadium, reigning premiers Melbourne will take on the Western Bulldogs at the MCG, Geelong will host Richmond at GMHBA Stadium, and Adelaide will meet Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval. Every result across these matches will reshape the final ladder and change the trajectory of multiple teams’ finals campaigns.
In an official statement following the fixture announcement, AFL Head of Strategy and Scheduling Josh Bowler emphasized that both closing rounds will play a defining role in determining which teams advance to the 2026 finals series. “A number of clubs are still competing for top-four positions, home finals and places in September,” Bowler said. “Fans can look forward to several marquee match-ups featuring some of the competition’s leading teams as the race to the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series reaches its conclusion.”