Collingwood will ask the AFL not to be involved in Opening Round next year, complaining of having to travel to Sydney to open their season twice in a row.
The Magpies started the 2024 and 2025 seasons poorly, thumped by GWS at ENGIE Stadium on both occasions, after being one of the four Victorian teams fixtured to travel north.
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The Opening Round concept has relied upon big Victorian teams drawing interest as the NSW and Queensland teams host games, in the AFL’s attempt to give the northern states some love.
But the Magpies don’t want to be involved in 2026, according to Seven’s Mitch Cleary, asking for other teams to share the load – even though many have complained that the Opening Round teams actually gain an advantage with an additional bye week.
“They’ve told the AFL they are done with playing Opening Round,” Cleary said on Seven News.
“While they are in favour of the concept overall, they don’t want to travel next year, much like Carlton lobbied for this year.
“The Pies are the only club to travel in both years of Opening Round to date, losing both games and want the load shared.
“It’s set to be a key talking point at the CEOs meeting in Gather Round next week.”
The Magpies are almost always one of the teams that travels the least across an AFL season.
While they make the typical six interstate trips, they don’t get drawn into additional travel for games in places like Tasmania, Canberra or Geelong – because teams want to play them at bigger venues to draw a bigger crowd and make more money.
In the first Opening Round, Collingwood, Melbourne, Carlton and Richmond travelled north with only the Blues winning.
This year, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong and Essendon were drawn to play away. The latter two had their games postponed due to Cyclone Alfred, while Hawthorn beat Sydney.
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