MELBOURNE is set to play in two historic matches during Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

The Demons will face Port Adelaide and Fremantle throughout the two weeks, with both games making history as the first to be played between clubs who have rebranded to their traditional language names.

During 2022, Melbourne announced its ground-breaking initiative of rebranding to the Narrm Football Club.

Narrm comes from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language, spoken by the traditional custodians of the region on which the MCG sits.

Following in Melbourne’s footsteps was Fremantle in February, who announced it would change its name to Walyalup Football Club for the duration of Sir Doug Nicholls Round, with Walyalup being the Noongar Country in and around the Fremantle region.

The third club to take the same step forward is Port Adelaide, who today announced it would be Yartapuulti Football Club for the two weeks of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

The renaming comes from the Kaurna language, ‘Yarta’ meaning place or land and ‘Puulti’ meaning sleep or death, which is the name the Kaurna people gave the land around the Port River.

The Demons will open Sir Doug Nicholls Round in a Friday night clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Melbourne will then host Fremantle in Round 11 for an historic match that will see it be the first game played on Wurundjeri Country in which both clubs are playing under their traditional names.

To mark the significance of the match, the two clubs have been collaborating closely to ensure the game celebrates the two cultures coming together.

The match will be played on Saturday 27^th May at 2:10pm, with fans encouraged to get to the game and show their support for the two initiatives.