Adelaide forward Taylor Walker has made a plea to the AFL to continue hosting Gather Round in South Australia.
This season’s Gather Round was officially launched on Wednesday, marking the final year of the current hosting agreement of all nine games being played in SA.
Speaking at the launch at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital alongside Carlton’s Harry McKay, Walker said Gather Round had been a huge success and South Australia should retain it.
“We are pretty chuffed that we’ve been able to have it for four years, and hopefully we can get a deal done for a long period of time,” Walker said.
“When something is not broken, you don’t need to fix it and we are doing a great job here in South Australia.
“We get to showcase what a beautiful state this is and as Harry said most of the teams enjoy coming over here for Gather Round, so let’s lock it away for a long time.”
Walker and McKay spent time with children at the hospital on Wednesday and the Crows veteran said he enjoyed being able to give back to the community.
“I love it. I think it’s a great thing that we are able to do as professional footballers, it’s one of the best things we can do,” Walker said.
“It’s something pretty special that we can do, to go and see some kids who are less fortunate than some others.”
The Crows and the Blues will kick off Gather Round at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
Adelaide will be looking to return to the winners’ list after three narrow losses to Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle, respectively.
Walker said starting the game strong would be the key to beating Carlton after sluggish first halves had been an issue for the team so far this season.
“You try and pick some reasons why (we’ve started slow), and we’ve had a look at some reasons why we think we are slow starting, and we’ll try and fix it,” Walker said.
“I'm looking forward to getting some experience back and hitting the ground running on Thursday night.”
Adelaide faces Carlton at Adelaide Oval on Thursday at 7.10pm.
The game, which is a fully ticketed match, will be broadcast live on Channel 7, Fox Footy and Kayo.
Fans without a ticket can watch live from the Footy Festival at Elder Park.
For all the details on all the Crows’ Gather Round events and player appearances, click here.
