Fremantle Dockers CEO Simon Garlick calls for AFL Opening Round to be scrapped on The West Sport Show

Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick has called for Opening Round to be scrapped, saying it is an unnecessary addition to the AFL fixture which provides an unfair advantage to the teams who kick off the season The AFL Season will begin on March 5 when Sydney hosts Carlton at the SCG. It will be the first of five games for the weekend with two matches in New South Wales and two in Queensland, while the league has added one game in Victoria this year. Fremantle’s season won’t start until the following week when they travel to Victoria to face Geelong at GMHBA Stadium. But the Cats will play against Gold Coast during Opening Round and Garlick said that would give Geelong an advantage. Since Opening Round was introduced in 2024 as part of a plan to showcase footy in the northern states, there have been eight matches in round one between a team that played in the first week against a team that watched from the sidelines - the Opening Round team has won seven times. Garlick said all teams should start at the same time every year. “I don’t think we need Opening Round to be frank,” he told The West Sport Show. “I think it’s probably done its job. The Swans and the Lions in particular, are selling out their stadiums. It’s less so for GWS and Gold Coast so I get that. But there’s performance implications in Opening Round. “There’s no doubt there’s an advantage for teams that played in Opening Round when they play against teams who don’t in round one. So I think it’s served a purpose. “I think it’s got real momentum in those northern markets in that period of time. But if we’re now opening it up to St Kilda and Collingwood, then to my mind I think we should go back to starting at round one with all teams on a more even keel.” Garlick said starting the season one week later would also ease the pressure on clubs who are lacking the time to prepare their players during the pre-season. He explained a recent discussion with AFL Players’ Association CEO James Gallagher highlighted that clubs throughout the country are worried about the lack of time players are available to train over summer. Dockers fans will have to wait until round two to watch their team playing live, and Garlick is determined to give the Purple Army as many marquee matches as possible to enjoy every season. The Dockers will play on Thursday or Friday night six times in the 15 rounds of fixtures that have been announced. They had only five of those games for the entire 2025 season and three opportunities in 2024, but the AFL have acknowledged that Fremantle had the third highest home crowd attendance in the league last season behind only Collingwood and Carlton. Garlick revealed Fremantle’s match against Collingwood at Adelaide Oval on the Friday night of Gather Round was specifically requested by South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas in a sign of how popular the Dockers have become. “If you play good games of footy, you get opportunities,” Garlick said. “So Friday night of Gather Round is a big game. They open with Adelaide’s home fixture and close with Port Adelaide’s. The next biggest fixture is Friday night. And Peter Malinauskas told me himself that he wanted us to play on that night against the Pies. “That’s an indication that with important partners, whether they be broadcasters or governments who want to invest, if you’re playing good footy and a good brand of footy, you tend to get some opportunities.” Fremantle will also play on Anzac Day for the second season in a row, with their annual Len Hall Tribute Game scheduled as the only game on Saturday night. The Dockers also played on Anzac Night last season, beating Adelaide at Optus Stadium by 18 points. Garlick said wants Fremantle to play on Anzac Night every year to go alongside Essendon versus Collingwood on Anzac Day and Richmond versus Melbourne on Anzac Eve as permanent marquee fixtures. He said while that could pose challenges for the players and coaches when Anzac Day falls on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was important to start investigating what is possible. “If we build that into a fixture on ANZAC Day, it is an opportunity for us to have a national marquee game. That Anzac weekend would see the Anzac Eve game, which is Melbourne and Richmond, which seems to be baked in. Collingwood and Essendon, and then us. “I understand that because it’s a weekend now, there’s a couple of other games that are floating in there now. “That would provide challenges for us in the future, if it’s Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, but that’s stuff we can work on. For the moment, it’s an important one for us.”