A crowd of around 12,000 is expected for the Tasmania Devils’ VFL clash at Ninja Stadium on Saturday night, which would surpass AFL attendance figures at the venue in recent years.
Around 10,000 tickets have already been sold for the ANZAC Day clash against Carlton, with membership holders and last-minute sales expected to push numbers higher before the game.
The VFL match is looking likely to attract a bigger crowd than the AFL match at UTAS Stadium in Launceston between Hawthorn and Gold Coast being played on the same day.
“It’d be fantastic to outdraw the Hawks in Launceston,” Tasmania Football Club head of operations Aaron Pidgeon said.
“I’m pretty confident about that at this stage, so we’ll see how things play out.”
The largest crowd in recent years at Ninja Stadium was in 2025 for a match between North Melbourne and Gold Coast which drew 10,318.
Pidgeon said a turnout of more than 12,000 would be significant.
“It helps that we’re winning … Things are going really, really well.”
“I think the product’s good on the field at the moment.”
He said the night game wouldn’t clash with local afternoon competition and a triple header featuring Clarence Premier League matches would add to the occasion.
Ahead of Saturday’s match, the club has announced the creation of the Cameron Baird Medal, to be awarded to the best Tasmanian player during its ANZAC Day game.
Cameron Baird was a Burnie local and son of Doug Baird, a prominent footballer who played a couple of games for Carlton in the late 1960s.
Pidgeon said the medal was committed for the next two years at VFL level.
“We were really keen to make sure that we were able to commemorate it and make it a really special event in some way,” he said.
“I know the players will be really excited and really keen to run out there. It’s an emotional day, AZNAC Day, and a big event, so they’re very excited to get amongst it.”
The match will start at 7:10pm, with the clash to be shown live on 7Mate in Tasmania and nationally on 7plus, Kayo and the AFL website, with SEN and ABC calling the game live on radio.
Tasmanian country-rock band The Wolfe Brothers are set to play a special half-time performance.
