Gillon McLachlan hails the success of Gather Round as Peter Malinauskas issues a challenge to South Australian footy fans

The AFL has left open the possibility of its Gather Round returning to Adelaide in 2024, while also declaring they have already surpassed the NRL’s equivalent Magic Round.

Gather Round will kick off with Carlton v Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

The AFL has declared its new-look Gather Round has already topped the Magic Round concept that it stole from the NRL as the league leaves open the possibility Adelaide will host the football festival next year.

The league now expects to sell out seven of its nine games across the South Australian event as spectators flood in from interstate and even abroad.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan hailed the success of an event that has sold over 190,000 tickets but said the league was keen to nail the execution of the weekend before considering its future.

It came as South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas fired a cross-state shot at New South Wales, challenging the Adelaide fans to eclipse the 31,686 that watched Port Adelaide’s SCG victory over the Swans last weekend.

He has cheekily suggested to McLachlan that if AFL fans could show more support for the Swans in a state away from their home ground then South Australia deserved to host Gather Round next year.

Gillon McLachlan and Peter Malinauskas at Adelaide Oval with Aliir Aliir, Patrick Cripps and Jordan Dawson. Picture: Getty Images

The AFL has already committed to hosting the event again but moving it to Sydney would help the league’s growth agenda, with Perth also keen to be part of a bidding war for next year’s event.

At an Adelaide press conference Malinauskas lauded the AFL’s “genius” for accepting the state’s offer for the inaugural Gather Round.

And while the league blatantly stole the concept from the NRL’s Magic Round in Queensland, McLachlan fired a shot across the bows of NRL boss Peter V’landys when asked if it could eclipse its rival’s stand-alone round.

“Everyone knows that. That’ll happen. It’s already better now,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to match these crowds, this oval, the sellout in the hills. Norwood Oval, Norwood Parade closed off. This is going to be an incredible weekend. Supporters travelling from all over the country. We have got to execute it but it’s going to be a fun weekend.”

McLachlan said the league had to weigh the capacity to grow the Gather Round concept in Adelaide with expansion across Sydney, but would leave those decisions for next week.

“That is always the privilege and responsibility of decision making. It is building something out and the opportunity to do something here and it’s a growth market in Sydney and frankly West Australia have advertised what they can do as they hosted a Grand Final.

“It’s a nice place to be in and then we will take that assessment and those things. Building out versus growth will be part of the discussion.

“The ticket sales have been great, both domestically and from interstate. I think that there’s obviously interest from other states. And you’re always balancing, sharing things around with creating energy and momentum and it’s just a new thing for us.

Gather Round is the biggest show in Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

“It feels like it’s going to be a permanent fixture. We feel that at this stage South Australia has done an incredible job, but we have to make all those decisions when we review it.

“‘It probably has exceeded expectations. There are people coming from everywhere. I got 20 ticket requests yesterday and it’s building into the weekend.”

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the partnership we’ve had with the South Australian government and everyone who works in all of their offices. And I think football feels pretty good with why it’s rolling out in South Australia. We’ll talk about that on Monday I’m sure but I couldn’t be more complimentary about what South Australia have done to make this work.”

Malinauskas said the state’s capacity to put on the Gather Round show with only six months’ notice had been spectacular as he taunted Sydney’s love of AFL football.

“I watched the game on Saturday night world. And there were just over 30,000 people that went to the game at the SCG on Saturday night to watch Port Adelaide versus Sydney. So here’s my challenge to South Australians. We want to get more people to Adelaide Oval to watch Sydney play than what Sydney was able to achieve in Sydney. That’s the test. If we can get a bigger crowd to Adelaide Oval to watch the Sydney Swans play in Adelaide than Sydney can achieve at the SCG then we will know South Australians love their footy and love their major events better than New South Wales by a very long way.”