Cricket legend’s legacy celebrated at footy festival
While most are gathering around the footy this weekend, there are plenty of unexpected things to find – including the country’s largest free trip to the doctor.
This year’s Gather Round has health front of mind, with Crows and Carlton players’ first stop of the week being the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, followed by a cricket legends’ legacy-endorsed health checks filling footy hotspots.
Five Adelaide festival sites are set up for footy fans to get their blood pressure, heart rate, weight, height, BMI, body composition, and diabetes risk checked at self-serve stations, with clinicians on site for in-depth insights.
Usually, the suite of checks would set one back $80 to $120 at your GP before a Medicare rebate.
The free health pop-up is the biggest in the country, backed by the Shane Warne Legacy group.
Legacy ambassador and former Hawks Number 23 Dermott Brereton – a mate of Warne’s and the inspiration behind the cricketer’s own number 23 – joined Health Minister Blair Boyer and cardiologist Dr Alicia Chan this morning to promote the importance of the checkups.
“If Warnie could help even one person take their health seriously, he’d say it was worth it,” Brereton said.
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Warne died of a heart attack in March 2022 at 52 years old, shocking the world. The Shane Warne Legacy group was founded the following year.
Shane Warne Legacy Chief Executive Helen Nolan said the cricket legend’s death was a “heartbreaking reminder that none of us are invincible”.
“One of the simplest and most confronting lessons is that high blood pressure has no symptoms, yet it’s one of the biggest risk factors for heart attack,” Nolan said.
“And still, more than half of people haven’t had their blood pressure checked in the past year. When you stop and think about that, it’s quite staggering.”
This is the third year the health stations have been run during Gather Round, with more than 9100 people getting checked in 2025.
One in three footy fans who got checked last year had elevated heart or diabetes risk and were advised to follow up with their GP.
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The checks are available at the Elder Park Footy Festival, Adelaide Oval’s Southern concourse, Norwood Oval Memorial Gardens and the Norwood Food and Wine Festival and Rundle Mall.
Separately, the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation is also urging those in town for Gather Round to undergo skin checks in a mobile clinic with world-first 3D imaging.
In 2025, more than 300 free skin checks were done, finding 63 suspicious spots and 13 suspected melanomas.
Carlton forward Harry McKay and Crows veteran Taylor Walker joined AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and Premier Peter Malinauskas at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital on Wednesday morning to visit young footy fans who would not be able to make it to tonight’s clash at Adelaide Oval.
The players said the young fans gave them “a bit of a grilling” on their visit to the hospital, which is the round’s official charity partner.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said ticket sales are better than last year’s, with interstate sales holding up despite the fuel crisis – in part helped by the AFL’s partnership with Shell to give drivers a discount at the bowser.
Once footy fans have gotten the all-clear in Rundle Mall between matches, the shopping thoroughfare is full of DJs and activities like trick shot challenges, scavenger hunts and a claw machine giving shoppers a chance to win a golden football.
As part of the mall’s fiftieth birthday celebrations – a golden anniversary – it has 50 limited-edition gold Sherrin footballs to give away over the five days.
Also in the mall, Melbourne-based footy influencers Mamalade Boys will be at the Farmers Union Iced Coffee tent on Thursday afternoon, donning Gather Round exclusive merch and a FUIC beanie and scarf to see them through the day’s wet weather.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts rain continuing into the evening on Thursday, with a 50 per cent chance of 5mm of rain throughout the day, including at kick-off time after thunderstorms through the morning and afternoon. Rain is expected to continue through the weekend, clearing on Sunday afternoon.
A Crows spokesperson said if there is lightning within 10 kilometres during tonight’s match, the game will be suspended with a 30-minute pause from the last lightning strike before resuming play.
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