Carlton Beats St Kilda in AFLW Opener as AFL's First Women's and Men's Double-Header Draws Near 18,000
Carlton opened the 2026 AFLW season with a 26-point win over St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, 9 August — 9.12 (66) to 6.4 (40) — in the first women's and men's double-header the AFL has ever staged (The Guardian, AFL.com.au).
The Blues kicked the opening game of the double-header off at 4.35pm. By the final quarter of the women's match, the crowd was pushing 18,000 — a strong figure for an AFLW standalone fixture, let alone one played in a venue that holds more than 50,000 (The Guardian).
Carlton's accuracy told the story. Nine goals from 21 scoring shots gave them breathing room that the 26-point margin flatters only slightly; St Kilda managed six goals from ten attempts but could not claw back the deficit once the Blues established their lead.
For St Kilda, it was a milestone of its own — the Saints' AFLW side made its Marvel Stadium debut in the match, having previously played home games at smaller suburban grounds (Marvel Stadium). It was also the first time an AFLW regular season game had been played at the Docklands venue (The Guardian).
Once the women's game wrapped up, the same two clubs' men's sides took the field for Round 22 of the 2026 AFL season — a full afternoon and evening of football under the one roof, with a single general admission adult ticket priced at $27.00 (Ticketmaster, Marvel Stadium).
The fixture was billed as "Spud's Game," honouring the late Danny Frawley, and served as the sole match in the opening split round of the 2026 NAB AFLW season (AFL.com.au). The AFL scheduled four double-headers across the 2026 AFLW fixture, pairing women's matches with AFL games at major venues in a bid to give the women's competition greater exposure and bigger crowds (AFL.com.au).
For the AFLW, playing at Marvel Stadium is a step up in every sense — bigger ground, bigger crowd, bigger occasion. The AFLW season, which launched in 2017, has grown from an eight-team competition to a full 18-club league, and Sunday's double-header put that growth on display in the most literal way possible: women's and men's teams from the same two clubs, on the same day, at the same ground.
The remaining games of AFLW Round 1 will be played across the following weekends as the split round unfolds.
