THE AFLW clash between Australia and Ireland is locked in with clubs informed on Thursday that the blockbuster one-off encounter would be taking place at 4.15pm AEST on Saturday, August 1.
As previously revealed by AFL.com.au, the match will be held at the 16,000-capacity North Sydney Oval and is expected to feature the biggest stars from the AFLW competition.
The match will take place just a fortnight out from the start of the 2026 AFLW campaign, which has already been confirmed to commence on the week starting Monday August, 10.
The men's fixture for that weekend, which falls in round 21, was released by the AFL on Thursday and does not feature a Saturday twilight game meaning the Australia and Ireland clash will have clear air on the calendar.
Instead, there will be two Saturday afternoon men's games – the later match, Hawthorn's clash against North Melbourne, starts at 1.35pm AEST – before the evening match between Port Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney starts at 6.35pm ACST.
Clubs were first informed back in April that an agreement on the first ever Australia and Ireland AFLW match was edging closer, on the back of the incredible array of Irish women's talent flooding onto Australian shores.
There are now more than 40 Irish players in the AFLW, with five – Brisbane's Jennifer Dunne, Carlton's Dayna Finn, Hawthorn's Aine McDonagh, North Melbourne's Blaithin Bogue and Gold Coast's Niamh McLaughlin – making last year's All-Australian side.
Three Irish players – Carlton's Finn, Hawthorn's McDonagh and Fremantle's Aisling McCarthy – won club best and fairest awards at the end of the 2025 season, marking the first time in AFLW history that Irish players had claimed such honours.
North Melbourne's 2025 premiership team featured three Irish players in Bogue, Erika O'Shea and Vikki Wall, while a fourth in Amy Gavin Mangan was named as an emergency.
Sydney also appointed the first ever full-time Irish senior coach in AFL/AFLW history when County Tipperary's Colin O'Riordan was handed the Swans' AFLW job last December.
O'Riordan, as well as North Melbourne's dual AFLW premiership coach Darren Crocker, are expected to be sounded out to lead the Irish and the Australian sides for the upcoming fixture.
Clubs were told in April that the game is set to be played as an Australian Football match with a classic Sherrin footy, rather than with a round ball under Gaelic rules like previous iterations of Australia and Ireland men's clashes.
Australia and Ireland last played a two-match men's International Rules series back in 2017 with fixtures in Adelaide and Perth. An Australian side led by coach Chris Scott and captain Shaun Burgoyne claimed a 2-0 series win.
