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The 2024 AFL season will start with four fixtures in Queensland and NSW the week before the traditional Carlton-Richmond meeting in round one.<\/p>\n
Dubbed \u201cOpening Round\u201d by the league, all four clubs from the northern states will host Victorian rivals for the first premiership points of the year.<\/p>\n
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Jack Viney.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The season will officially start with a Sydney-Melbourne clash at the SCG on Thursday, March 7, with the Brisbane Lions to host Carlton at the Gabba the following night.<\/p>\n Gold Coast take on Richmond at Heritage Bank Stadium in new coach Damien Hardwick\u2019s first clash with his former club on Saturday.<\/p>\n GWS will host reigning premiers Collingwood at Giants Stadium later that night.<\/p>\n The Lions-Blues and Giants-Magpies meetings are rematches of last season\u2019s preliminary finals.<\/p>\n The AFL hopes the set of opening round fixtures will give it a leg up in the northern markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were fortunate to be in a position where we were able to have access to our major venues in Queensland and NSW a weekend earlier than usual which gave us a unique opportunity to play these four games in key markets where footy continues to grow in popularity,\u201d AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe four match-ups are big, with four of our biggest-supported Victorian clubs travelling north, and we look forward to starting our season with real momentum before we head into a blockbuster round of matches in round one.\u201d<\/p>\n Carlton will take on Richmond on Thursday March 14 to kick off a full set of nine matches in round one.<\/p>\n The eight teams that play in the opening round will have a bye between rounds two and six.<\/p>\n It will mean all 18 teams will have played the same number of games by the start of round seven.<\/p>\n The byes will not occur in round four, which has been locked in for Gather Round, when all clubs will meet for a full set of fixtures in South Australia.<\/p>\nAFL\u2019s Opening Round 2024<\/h3>\n