Essendon pushes for more MCG games amid fan anger at Geelong road trip

Essendon has played in Geelong twice in the past 31 seasons — outside of the Covid years. But that didn’t stop fan anger boiling over about being sent down the highway in 2025 at the club’s AGM.

Essendon is confident it will cut down its home games at Marvel Stadium and secure at least one more MCG match from 2026 as it closes in on a new deal with the AFL.

The Bombers were one of multiple clubs to lodge a fixture request for a home match to be switched from Marvel Stadium to the MCG in 2025 but that was denied when the season draw was released last month.

The Dons will host Adelaide (round 2), Richmond (round 11), Geelong (round 14) and Carlton (round 24) at the home of football next year and maintain seven home games under the roof at Docklands.

Essendon has begun renegotiations with the AFL — which owns Marvel Stadium — on a deal to play under the roof from 2026 onwards and CEO Craig Vozzo believes that will lead to more MCG matches.

Zach Merrett and Andrew McGrath celebrate a win at the MCG. Picture: Michael Klein

“Our club takes it quite seriously that we would love to play more games at the MCG,” he told the Bombers AGM.

“In fact, we are in the process of finalising an arrangement with the AFL at the moment with regards to the Marvel deal and we are quite confident that an ability to pick up an extra game at the MCG will come.”

Darcy Parish tackles Mark Blicavs during a clash at GMHBA Stadium.

Carlton and St Kilda have pushed to shift games out of Marvel Stadium and over to the MCG.

North Melbourne is likely to add more games there from 2026 when it no longer plays in Tasmania after agreeing to play two home matches in West Australia.

The two western games would leave two extra matches formerly played on the Apple Isle that could now be staged in Melbourne.

Essendon wants more games at the MCG.

Essendon is a club that has become synonymous with the Docklands stadium as an original tenant and hosted the very first AFL game there, against Port Adelaide in March, 2000.

An extra MCG game could help ease some concern growing among Essendon fans that reserve seat memberships are soon to be exhausted, given the greater capacity at the ‘G.

Vozzo told members that one of the beauties of Essendon’s regular fixture is that the Dons usually play 16 matches in Melbourne.

That has remained in 2025, plus a rare game in Geelong, in round 22.

But not all Bombers fans are happy to head down the highway, with one long-time member issuing a complaint at the AGM — which drew some applause — about having to play at GMHBA Stadium for just the second time since 1993 outside of Covid years.

“I don’t want to go to Geelong either,” Bombers president David Barham jovially replied.