Swans chairman lays down gauntlet to Collingwood for 2025 Opening Round blockbuster

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham has never been shy at taking jabs at the Pies, now the Swans boss has thrown down the gauntlet to the 2023 premiers for an epic way to start 2025.

MELBOURNE. 07/05/2023. AFl. Round 8. Collingwood vs. Sydney at the MCG. Players punch on after Swans players got stuck into Nick Daicos of the Magpies after a Sydneys Ryan Clarke 1st qtr goal . Pic: Michael Klein

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham has revealed plans for the Swans to tackle Collingwood in a blockbuster SCG clash to kickstart a bigger and bolder Opening Round next season.

In an interview on Thursday to mark the Swans’ board meeting at Temperance Hall in South Melbourne - the birthplace of the club 150 years ago - Pridham said he wanted to see the two best supported AFL clubs lock horns to showcase the start of the 2025 season.

He has already spoken about his vision with Magpies president Jeff Browne - a colleague and friend - and will look to lobby the AFL to lock in what will be a sold-out, highly-anticipated clash.

“I won’t speak for them (Collingwood), but I think it would be an absolutely unbelievable start to next season,” Pridham told this masthead.

“I think they (Collingwood) are up for it; we are up for it; we both (wear) Nike gear; and Jeff Browne is the chairman of my business and we are good mates.”

Pridham was one of the architects of the inaugural, highly-successful Opening Round start to this season where four matches across three days were played in New South Wales and Queensland.

The Swans are flying on top of the AFL ladder. (Photo by Matt King/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

The Swans played Melbourne in the first match of the 2024 season with a bumper 40,000 crowd and exceptionally strong television ratings across the country.

It was a massive way to launch the Swans’ 150th year - a milestone that Pridham said the club would continue to celebrate throughout the season - but he has plans to make it even bigger next season.

The Swans and the Magpies argue the toss about which club has the biggest fan base, with Pridham pointing out Roy Morgan research puts Sydney clearly in front.

“I love to remind people that … Roy Morgan has us as the most supported sporting club in Australia with two million fans,” he said.

“It is only upsetting to about 850,000 (people, which was Roy Morgan’s assessment of Collingwood’s fan base).”

The AFL has yet to lock in details surrounding next year’s start to the season, but is almost certain the focus will again be on the northern states.

Pridham believes a stand-alone game in Melbourne could also work on the Sunday and could be an option for next year.

“Traditionally the challenge we have in Sydney, and I guess the same in Queensland, is that the NRL has started weeks before we have started,” he said.

“To have some clear air and start (in Sydney) with a big game against Melbourne was fantastic. It would be great next year to play against one of the big clubs (Collingwood).

“This is just a good concept. Creating these events is one of the great success stories of the AFL. These events just drive the interest.”

Sydney Swans board members outside Temperance Hall.

Pridham and his fellow board members stepped back in time on Thursday by holding one of their meetings at the Temperance Hall in South Melbourne.

“We were very keen to hold it there, and it is almost 150 years to the day (since the club was born),” Pridham said.

“It is a significant anniversary. You couldn’t help but look around and see the room and think 150 years ago this is where the club was founded in a different age - the Gilded Age.

“One of the things we were very conscious of is that while we are very much Sydney, we have reclaimed our roots and our history in Melbourne.

“A lot of our strongest supporters are based in Melbourne.”

Originally published as Swans chairman lays down gauntlet to Collingwood for 2025 Opening Round blockbuster