Sun height (altitude) and angle (compass azimuth) hour-by-hour, and when the surrounding stands throw shadow onto the centre pitch. Southern-Hemisphere spring, so the sun tracks across the north and sets in the west. All times AEST (UTC+10) — Victoria's daylight saving doesn't begin until 4 Oct, so the 26th is on standard time.
Solar noon
12:11
sun due N · alt 53.4°
Sunset
18:18
sun in the W (268°)
Sun's high point
53.4°
never overhead — low spring arc
Centre in stand-shade
~15:50
from the NW/W stands on
Where the sun is, and where shadows fall
Top-down, true north up. Orange = the sun's compass bearing each hour (with its altitude); it drops down the north-west sky through the afternoon. Shadows throw the opposite way — into the south-east, then east.
Hour by hour (AEST)
Time
Sun height
Sun bearing
Shadow points
Shadow length
12:11 noon
53.4°
360° N
180° S
0.74 × ht
1:00
51.7°
340° NNW
160° SSE
0.79 × ht
2:00
45.7°
319° NW
139° SE
0.97 × ht
3:00
36.8°
303° WNW
123° ESE
1.34 × ht
4:00
26.3°
291° WNW
111° ESE
2.03 × ht
5:00
14.9°
280° W
100° E
3.76 × ht
5:30
9.1°
275° W
95° E
6.3 × ht
6:18 sunset
0°
268° W
88° E
— (grazing)
Shadow length = object height × the multiplier. A 45 m stand throws a ~44 m shadow at 3pm, ~91 m at 4pm, ~169 m at 5pm.
When the centre pitch goes into shade
The centre sits roughly 73–85 m from the fence (field is 171 × 146 m). For a stand's shadow to reach it, the sun has to drop below atan(height ÷ ~80 m):
Stand roofline ~42 m (the broad shade): reaches centre once the sun is below ~28° — about 3:50 pm onward.
Top of stands ~45 m: below ~29° — about 3:40 pm.
Light towers 85 m (75 m + 10 m headframe): below ~47° — a thin shadow line crosses centre from ~1:50 pm, but that's a pole's-width line, not real shade.
The short version for the shoot/show: the centre pitch is in full sun through to about 3:30–3:45 pm. From ~3:50 pm the tall north-west & western stands start laying broad shade across it, and it's increasingly shaded thereafter as the sun sinks. The last two hours (4–6 pm) give low, raking light from the WNW→W (26° down to grazing) — that's your glare / long-shadow / golden-hour direction, and the side any west-facing camera or screen will be fighting.
Notes & accuracy
Sun altitude & azimuth are exact (NOAA/Meeus algorithm, lat −37.820, lon 144.983, AEST). Positions shift <0.3° year-to-year, so this holds for 26 Sep in any nearby year.
The shadow-to-centre times are approximate — they use representative stand heights (~42–45 m) and ~80 m to centre. For a precise cut, drop your real stand heights + setback into the same atan(h/d) and I'll redo it against the venue drawings.
The MCG's true long axis runs roughly NNW–SSE; the diagram is drawn to true north so you can overlay it on a venue plan.