SA Premier announces Gather Round Parade amid fixture release

The AFL has released the fixture for Gather Round 2027.

Port Adelaide will host Zak Butters and the Western Bulldogs in an Adelaide Oval blockbuster to wrap up the round on the Sunday night in South Australia.

Gather Round kicks off with Adelaide hosting Brisbane at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, April 8. The three-time premiers have been off broadway in the previous four editions but will get a prime time slot.

Collingwood and Sydney meet at the Adelaide Oval on the Friday night before a four-game Saturday which includes Fremantle v Hawthorn.

Sunday hosts three games including Geelong v St Kilda where new Cat Rowan Marshall will take on his old Saints.

Then the much-anticipated Port v Dogs fixture will wrap it up as the headline act in front of an expected sellout crowd.

Gather Round fixture 2027

All times local

Thursday April 8
Adelaide v Brisbane (Adelaide Oval) - 7.10pm

Friday April 9
Collingwood v Sydney (Adelaide Oval) - 7.10pm

Saturday April 10
Gold Coast v GWS (Barossa Park) - 12.05pm
Carlton v Melbourne (Adelaide Oval) - 1.05pm
Richmond v West Coast (Norwood Oval) - 4.05pm
Fremantle v Hawthorn (Adelaide Oval) - 7.15pm

Sunday April 11
Essendon v North Melbourne (Norwood Oval) - 12pm
Geelong v St Kilda (Barossa Park) - 2.45pm
Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs (Adelaide Oval) - 6.45pm

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas revealed that he and the South Australian Government made a number of specific requests surrounding the Gather Round fixture.

“We wanted to see Brisbane play at the Adelaide Oval - they haven’t played at the Adelaide Oval during the course of Gather Round,” Malinauskas told SEN Afternoons.

“Given they are one of the greatest footy teams in history now having won three in a row, they are on the Thursday night against the Crows.

“We really wanted to see a big Melbourne team play on the Friday night. No bigger than Collingwood in many respects, so against the Swans on Friday night.

“The other thing that we were really keen on is the Saturday night game at Adelaide Oval having to be either the Grand Final replay, or top four clubs playing against each other.

“We’ve got that in Fremantle versus Hawthorn. Given what Hawthorn has achieved over the trade period… I think they are going to be a contender for sure, and obviously Fremantle will be.

“Of course, Carlton on the Saturday at Adelaide Oval. Western Bulldogs – watching Zak Butters run out for the Dogs is going to be a pretty bitter pill to swallow, but I can see what the AFL has done there!

“I don’t know who the favourite is in many of these games – this is the best Gather Round fixture that we’ve had yet.”

The fixture wasn’t all that was released, with the SA Premier revealing the details around the freshly announced Gather Round Parade.

On Friday night, representatives of 16 AFL teams (Fremantle and Hawthorn excluded due to match commitments) will sit through a parade through Adelaide, open to all to attend as they head towards Adelaide Oval.

“I can’t stress enough – on the Friday night, we are going to see something special,” Malinauskas continued.

“We’re going to have players represented from every club in a parade on the streets of Adelaide on the Friday night.

“Everyone loves the Grand Final parade – this is the Grand Final parade with all 18 teams, minus the two that are playing on the Friday night. That’s going to be really cool.

“It’s going to be in the city at twilight in the leadup to the game on Friday night. It’s Victorian school holidays importantly, which is how we’ve timed it.

“You want to try to get there on the Friday. Plus, the buzz around the city in the leadup to Gather Round is as good as it is during Gather Round itself.

“Make the effort to come on the Friday and come the Friday night, it will be good fun.

“It finishes down next to Adelaide Oval on the Torrens Parade ground, across the road from the footy festival. That’s the nominated finishing location.

“We are just finalising the start – where we start it from – because it’s hard to guess how many people will come.

“I, for one, am optimistic that we will get a good crowd, because you just aren’t going to see anything like this in footy.

“We want families and kids to be able to come and see all of their heroes, all of the captains, the coaches and the superstars, all there in one place at one time.

“It will be like Brownlow night but accessible to everybody.”

Listen to Peter Malinauskas' interview with Dwayne Russell below: