AFL Gather Round North Melbourne v Gold Coast: First game at the Barossa a success
Barossa Park’s first AFL match was a raging success – and everything premier Peter Malinauskas imagined. Matt Turner and Ruby Stewart recap an historic day in Adelaide.
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For South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas, the first Gather Round game in the Barossa Valley was everything he had imagined.
Barossa born-and-bred mayor Bim Lange had a tear in his eye, such was his local pride.
And fans from across Australia lapped up the historic occasion on Saturday, as the newly redeveloped Barossa Park at Lyndoch became the 51st venue to host an AFL match when Gold Coast took on North Melbourne.
Full terraces, flowing food and drinks, a spectacular view behind the scoreboard, an attendance of 9317 and a close contest on the field – at least until the last quarter – made for a successful footy festival debut for the region.
It was the scenery, particularly of the Barossa ranges to the east, as well as vineyards to the north, that led the state government to choose Lyndoch as the ideal host.
Those images being beamed across the country, including from drones capturing the landscape, was what pleased Malinauskas most as he stood on the function area’s balcony, watching Ben King kick his fourth goal to help sway the game the Suns’ way.
“When we first put our hands up for Gather Round, there was an aspiration that I had to have a game in the Barossa and hopefully people can see why now,” Mr Malinauskas told this masthead.
“It was a pretty tall ask – we had to get a ground up and running in less than 12 months.
“We did the sod turn on this after Gather Round last year and it was a patch of dirt.”
Karen Pell made the trip down south from the Gold Coast with sons Tommy and Oscar to cheer on the Suns.
“We go to the (AFL) grand final often so this (Gather Round) is a similar sort of vibe but actually … I think it might be arguably better,” said Mrs Pell, who was making her first trip to the Barossa.
“We’ve said this might have to be an annual trip.”
Tea Tree Gully local Holly Wheaton and her sons Archer and Hudson are mad Kangaroos fans.
Archer was named after North Melbourne great Glenn Archer.
Ms Wheaton had been worried about traffic, but she said the drive was “beautiful” and getting into the ground was not an issue.
Concerns that the one road in would lead to a banked up queue of cars were alleviated as most fans seemed to arrive early, as the government and AFL had hoped.
“We went the back way from Tea Tree Gully, so it was very quick and easy,” she said.
“We love the Barossa.”
The fans’ area with children’s activities and sprints on a back oval involving local clubs to find the fastest community footballer received praise among the crowd.
Teething issues were also apparent.
They included limited shade on a hot 34C day, some bars running out of free water and bottles of it selling out and unreliable phone service inside the ground.
Fittingly, the Suns started strongest in the heat to lead at the first two breaks, before the Kangaroos fought back and pushed two goals clear during the third term.
But Gold Coast kicked clear late to win by 52 points.
Suns supporter, Valentine Ward could not speak more highly of his Gather Round experience dubbing it “fantastic”.
His daughter, Abigail, rated the footy festival “165 million out of 10”.
Mr Lange, who had always lived in the nearby town Williamstown and been involved in local government for more than five decades, was chuffed at how the afternoon unfolded.
Decent view from the Barossa Park media box post-game.#GatherRound#isthatthemoonpic.twitter.com/nc40EUSrNH
— Matt Turner (@mattturner1986) April 12, 2025
“This has come together in a really special way to say the least,” Mr Lange told The Advertiser.
“I teared up at one stage.
“It’s been a huge investment into our region, a huge commitment from the state government and AFL.
“It’s a little bit warm today, but I think everyone’s refreshing themselves well.”
Tristan Salter, the AFL’s general manager of operations and Tasmania who was leading a team overseeing the footy festival, said the day presented South Australia and the Barossa Valley in the best possible way to the rest of the nation.
“We hope people flow through the Barossa after this and take in wineries, restaurants, pubs or get down to the state game in Tanunda,” Mr Salter said.
Tanunda hosted the SANFL and VFL clash after the Suns-Kangaroos match, ahead of a street party on Saturday night.
Barossa Park will return to being a community site once Gather Round is done, used by Barossa Districts footballers and netballers, as well as for cricket, lawn bowls, tennis, pigeon racing and junior athletics.
But first comes Fremantle and Richmond for part two on Sunday.
BAROSSA BULLIES: SUNS STORM HOME TO BELT HAPLESS ROOS
- Ronny Lerner
Gold Coast have made their best ever start to an AFL season after blowing North Melbourne away in the final quarter-and-a-half to convincingly win by 52 points at Barossa Park on Saturday.
In a topsy-turvy contest, the Suns looked like they were going to kill off the game early when they jumped out to a 25-point lead in the second term.
But the Kangaroos responded with seven of the next eight majors to lead by eight points halfway through the third quarter and it looked as though a boilover was on the cards.
Gold Coast, though, inspired by the brilliant Matt Rowell, wrenched back the ascendancy with 11 of the last 13 goals to ruthlessly kill off the contest as they finished with a club record 14 individual goalkickers, spearheaded by Ben King who booted five.
The 21.15 (141) to 13.11 (89) result propelled the Suns to an unprecedented 4-0 start to a campaign, and it appears as though under triple premiership coach Damien Hardwick, they have finally arrived as a force to be reckoned with after 14 years of mediocrity.
Meanwhile, the same cannot be said for the Kangaroos who have crashed back to earth with a thud following their 10-goal smashing of Melbourne three weeks ago.
All the excitement and enthusiasm from that win over the Demons has evaporated thanks to three consecutive losses, including their last two which have been by a combined 117 points.
The Kangaroos have now won just 16 of their last 112 games in a horror six-year span, and worryingly, there’s still very little light at the end of the tunnel this far deep into their historically bad era.
After giving up 12 of the first 14 clearances, the Suns, led by Rowell (11), ended up winning that stat 45-42 and thumped the Kangaroos in contested possessions 141-125 and inside 50s (65-47).
Rowell was absolutely superb and kickstarted his team’s powerful finish to the game to also end up with 26 touches (15 contested), eight forward entries and a goal.
John Noble had a day out, too, with 28 disposals and a goal, while Touk Miller helped himself to 27 possessions (11), five clearances and a major, and Noah Anderson had another strong outing with 27 disposals and six clearances.
'That is an UNBELIEVABLE goal!' 😱 Matty Rowell puts the Suns 19 points up right at the end of the 3rd 💪
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) April 12, 2025
📺 Watch #AFLNorthSuns on ch.503 or on @kayosportshttps://t.co/woIxa5SEGv
âœï¸ BLOG https://t.co/NWyqssAA9N
🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/wa20M8bHNOpic.twitter.com/djiAtHDGqi
RAMPAGING ROWELL
Rowell landed a devastating blow to North on the three-quarter time siren when he crumbed the contest, fended off Harry Sheezel with brute strength and left Colby McKercher in his wake as he snapped truly from 25m out to give his side a 19-point lead.
NOBLE STARTS AND ENDS IT
And any hope the Kangaroos had of mounting another comeback was extinguished early in the final quarter when co-captain Jy Simpkin’s kick in the centre square was smothered by Noble. From the ensuing spillage, Rowell combined with Anderson to get it to Miller who sent it into the forward line. Nick Holman then passed it to Noble who started the play and finished it off with a goal from the pocket.
KANGAS WASTEFUL EARLY
North Melbourne had a strong breeze at their back in the first quarter, but couldn’t make the most of the advantage.
They were let down by poor forward efficiency and despite finishing the term with more inside 50s (16-12), could only manage 3.7 and found themselves 12 points down as the Suns were far slicker and deadlier in their attacking zone.
Gold Coast kicked six goals into the wind, five of which were generated from their defensive half, and made North’s backline pay for playing too loose.
SUNS SCORING FREELY
The undefeated Suns are proving to be one of the most high-scoring teams in the league so far this year, having now averaged 122 points game, and with a club record five consecutive road wins under their belt, their self-belief continues to grow.
SCOREBOARD
NORTH MELB. 3.7, 7.9, 11.9, 13.11 (89)
GOLD COAST 6.1, 9.5, 14.10, 21.15 (141)
RONNY LERNER’S BEST
Roos: Davies-Uniacke, Sheezel, Daniel, Darling, Simpkin, Comben.
Suns: Rowell, King, Anderson, Noble, Miller, Long, Collins.
GOALS
Roos: Curtis 2, Duursma 2, Larkey 2, Darling 2, Simpkin 2, Sheezel, Zurhaar, Konstanty.
Suns: King 5, Long 3, Flanders 2, Ainsworth, W.Graham, Miller, Walter, Jeffrey, Weller, Rowell, Rogers, Noble, Read, Holman.
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Whetton, Fry, Strybos
TBC at Barossa Park
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: RONNY LERNER’S VOTES
3 Matt Rowell (GC)
2 Ben King (GC)
1 Noah Anderson (GC)
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