From the Charlie Curnow Cup in Sydney to a potential three-peat launch at the Gabba, Opening Round for the 2026 AFL season has spice everywhere you look.
Let’s cut through the noise, find the angles that matter and get stuck into what should be a proper tone-setter for 2026 with our full AFL Opening Round preview and best bets below.
The self-congratulations will be running rampant at AFL HQ this week as the footy world prepares for the Charlie Curnow Cup.
The mouth-watering opening game of the season pits Charlie’s new home of Sydney against his old two-bedroom flat of Carlton after the two-time Coleman Medallist forced a trade north over the off-season.
Curnow, alongside a fit Tom Papley, Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills, will lead the Swans into the game as $1.30 favourites with Ladbrokes with the line at 23.5.
Carlton will blood former Swans Will Hayward and Ollie Florent, while former #3 pick Jagga Smith will debut after his eye-popping 37-disposal game in the pre-season. Those names are unlikely to provide coverage for the additional loss of Tom de Koning and Jack Silvagni, who along with Curnow, have forced the Blues to undergo significant on-field changes.
The Swans have won 11 of their past 12 home games against the Blues. We expect that to happen again, but there’s a bit too much uncertainty to take the $1.30 quote or the -23.5 points.
TIP: Tom Papley (Sydney) 2+ Goals @ $2.10
Two teams that will be eyeing off another tilt at September action, the Gold Coast Suns and Geelong will clash at People First Stadium on Friday night.
The Suns, who are currently $1.62 favourites and on the second line of betting ($8) for the premiership, have bolstered their stocks with the addition of Christian Petracca, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Academy star Zeke Uwland.
After falling to the Lions by 47 points in last year’s Grand Final, the expectation around Chris Scott’s Cats is lower than their Opening Round opponents, sitting equal-fourth in the premiership market at $10.
Jeremy Cameron missed the State of Origin with a minor quad strain, while Tinder Ambassador Bailey Smith has been nursing a sore calf.
Despite missing Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell (finger) for the first month, it’s hard to see the Suns dropping this one in front of an expectant home crowd.
TIP: Gold Coast Suns to win by 1-39 @ $2.25
It can often be a long season for teams who are injury-riddled ahead of their first match, and that can certainly be said about the Giants.
The off-season from hell has gone from bad to worse for the Orange Tsunami, who added Tom Green (ACL) to an injury list that includes First XVIII players Josh Kelly, Darcy Jones, Brent Daniels, Sam Taylor, Aaron Cadman and Toby Bedford.
The one shining light for the Giants has been the addition of Clayton Oliver, who has stayed out of the headlines since making his way to Western Sydney. And let’s be honest, no news is good news when it comes to Clayton.
As for the $1.46 Hawks, they’ll be rejoicing the fact Jai Newcombe is available to play after the star midfielder successfully had a dangerous tackle suspension overturned during the week.
While Will Day (shoulder) is once again sidelined for half a season, Sam Mitchell’s men will enter the game relatively healthy and should have enough bullets in the chamber to hold off the Giants in a close one.
TIP: Jai Newcombe (Hawthorn) 25+ Disposals @ $2.05
Three-peat, come at us!
The Brisbane Lions will embark on a campaign for a third-straight premiership when they host the Western Bulldogs in the Jason Akermanis Exhibition Match* at the Gabba on Saturday night.
The Lions were unstoppable in 2025 and claimed their second-consecutive flag with a 47-point demolition of the Cats.
They’ve since added former West Coast captain Oscar Allen and Essendon ruckman Sam Draper to their line-up, but the latter has been ruled out for a month with a foot injury.
The Dogs, who lost to the Lions twice in 2025, will be led once again by Marcus Bontempelli after the champion Dog racked up a game-high 29 disposals in his side’s 44-point pre-season win over the Hawks.
However, with an engine room consisting of Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley, the Ashcroft brothers and Hugh McCluggage, that Line of 15.5 is looking very, very juicy.
*Not a real thing.
TIP: Brisbane To Cover The Line (-15.5) @ $1.90
It’s a new-look Saints outfit in 2026 and they’ll be looking to kick-start their season with a win over Collingwood on Sunday night.
Ross the Boss and his team weren’t messing around over the off-season as they added Tom de Koning, Jack Silvagni, Liam Ryan and Sam Flanders to their squad.
If last week’s 43-point demolition of the Bombers is anything to go by, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera will be spending far more time in the midfield and giving Brownlow futures bettors plenty to think about at $7.
The Pies will be without Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe in the opener due to injury, after bidding farewell to Brody Mihocek, Mason Cox, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Tom Mitchell over the off-season.
The $1.96 for a club expected to fall gracefully seems unders, so we’ll happily take the $3.70 on offer for the Saints 1-19.
TIP: St Kilda to win by 1-19 @ $3.70
2025
While it’s certainly not the bright lights of Las Vegas, the AFL’s Opening Round has arrived with nearly as much media attention as their rival code.
Brisbane, Geelong, Gold Coast and Essendon have been rescheduled due to predicted weather conditions, but we still have two games of footy to sink our teeth into this weekend.
See below for our complete 2025 AFL Opening Round preview, Aussie Rules tips for the week, and weekly AFL best bets around the grounds!
OK, it’s official, Cyclone Alfred has ensured storm chasers will enjoy their Thursday night far more than AFL fans, the 2025 season will officially kick off when the Sydney Swans host Hawthorn at the SCG on Friday.
It has undoubtedly been a long off-season of soul-searching for the Bloods after their disastrous 10-goal loss to Brisbane in last year’s AFL grand final.
They will, however, enter the new year with a spate of resolutions under the guidance of new senior coach Dean Cox after he took the keys to the car following John Longmire’s semi-shocking resignation.
While the Swans enter this week’s match as the $1.85 favourites with Ladbrokes, Cox will have his work cut out for him with the unavailability of Errol Gulden (ankle), Harry Cunningham (foot), Robbie Fox (calf), and Logan McDonald (ankle).
Skipper Callum Mills, Brodie Grundy and Tom Papley are also under injury clouds.
As for Sam Mitchell and his squad of Hokball enthusiasts, expectations are high for the Hawks after they surprised many with their 14 wins and semi-final appearance one year after finishing 16th.
Mitchell has single-handedly reinvented the way footy is played at Hawthorn with more dare and more arrogance than ever before and they’re set to improve again with the addition of star defenders, Tom Barrass and Josh Battle.
Calsher Dear (back), who booted 12 goals in his last five games of the season, is unlikely to play Round 1, while Mitch Lewis continues to recover from a knee injury, a lack of marking target means James Sicily may spend more time forward.
Sydney has certainly had Hawthorn’s measure in recent years with three straight wins by an average of 66 points, but that’s highly unlikely this time around.
Despite missing Gulden et al for an important first-up clash, expect Cox to have those at his disposal match-hardened and ready to squeeze out a close one.
Sydney to Win by 1-39 @ $2.35
Omen betters, where art thou?
With Aussie Rules and horse racing sharing a storied history together, Collingwood supporters would have loved the vision of Craig McRae celebrating as Feroce crossed the line first in last Saturday’s Australian Guineas.
Part-owning a G1 winner on the eve of the AFL season? Yes, please.
Perhaps even more importantly, Pies fans would have enjoyed every moment of their off-season.
From trading in Dan Houston (Port Adelaide), Harry Perryman (GWS) and Tim Membrey (St Kilda), to their 83-point demolition of Richmond in a practice match, things are looking up for McRae’s men for the first time since the 2023 Grand Final.
Despite missing the finals last season, Collingwood will enter its first-round clash against the Giants as $1.68 favourites.
With Nick Daicos ($4.50) leads all comers in Brownlow Medal betting, as he prepares to lead a midfield consisting of Darcy Cameron, Jordan De Goey and Scott Pendlebury.
Giants fans will be licking their lips with the current head-to-head market against a side who couldn’t crack the top eight, but will be without Tom Green (calf), Jesse Hogan (thumb) and Jake Riccardi (suspension) on Sunday.
Jake Stringer (Essendon), who will eventually join Hogan, Toby Greene and Aaron Cadman up forward, has also picked up a hamstring injury that has ruled him out of the next two weeks.
While GWS defeated the Pies by 26 points in their sole match-up last season, they weren’t as injury-riddled as their current list.
Lachie Schultz to Kick 2+ goals @ 2.85