The Dreamtime at the 'G is an annual Australian rules football match between Australian Football League clubs and .
Since the 2007 season the match has been held annually on the Saturday night of the AFL's "Indigenous Round", also known as the Sir Doug Nicholls Round. The name of the match comes from the Australian Aboriginal term "Dreamtime" and "the 'G", a nickname for the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where the match usually takes place; it has been played away from the ground on two occasions, when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted football in Victoria.
The game draws one of the highest crowds of the home-and-away season, with an average crowd of over 70,000 since its inception (with the exception of rain-affected matches), and a record attendance of 85,656 in 2017. The winning club is awarded the "Kevin Sheedy Cup", and the best player on the ground is awarded the "Yiooken Award".
History
Dreamtime at the 'G was first held in 2005, with the aim being to recognise the contribution of all Indigenous players to the AFL. It was held during NAIDOC Week.
From 2006, the Yiooken Award has been awarded to the player judged best on ground in the match.
In 2007, following the success of the match in 2005 and 2006, the AFL nominated a specific Indigenous Round (round 9), which has become an annual event in which the Dreamtime at the 'G match takes centre stage. The success of the annual match, which now usually features crowds in excess of 80,000, led to the two clubs agreeing to cement the match's official status for an additional decade in May 2016.
From 2016, the Indigenous Round was named after Sir Doug Nicholls, the only AFL player to have been knighted and the only Aboriginal person or AFL player to serve as a state governor. Each year, each player in all 18 clubs wears a specially-commissioned artwork by an Indigenous artist on their guernsey. In 2019, former Essendon player Michael Long was honoured during this round.
In 2020, the match was played at TIO Stadium in Darwin, as it was not possible for the match to be played in Melbourne due to the city being locked down during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, another COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria led to the AFL moving the fixture to Optus Stadium in Perth, which also held the Grand Final that year.