AFL 2021 fixture: Blockbusters abound in first six rounds
The AFL has scheduled a series of blockbusters and will utilise the burgeoning Thursday night timeslot in the opening six rounds of next year's home-and-away campaign.
While the full 22-round-over-23 weeks schedule of matches was released on Monday, only the first six rounds came complete with time slots because of the threat of another coronavirus-impacted season.
Carlton and Richmond will again open the AFL season.Credit:Getty Images
There are five Thursday night matches in a row to start the campaign, beginning with traditional rivals Carlton and Richmond clashing on March 18, while 14 of the 18 clubs will feature in the marquee timeslots of Thursday or Friday night across the opening six weeks.
The Tigers will unveil their 2019 and 2020 flags in round one at the MCG, while other major matches through the opening six rounds include Essendon v Hawthorn in round one, Carlton v Collingwood in round two, Geelong v Hawthorn in round three over Easter, Sydney v the Giants in round five, the Giants v Western Bulldogs in round six and Collingwood v Essendon on Anzac Day, also in round six.
The Brisbane Lions and Collingwood will clash on Easter Thursday at the Gabba, while there will be a double-header on Good Friday when North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs meet at Marvel Stadium, while the Crows take on the Gold Coast in Adelaide.
There will also be AFL and AFLW double-headers in rounds one and two. The timeslots for matches beyond round six will be confirmed once the season begins.
In a remarkable year when the 2020 campaign had to largely be held outside of Victoria because of COVID-19 issues, AFL executive manager of clubs and broadcasting Travis Auld again cautioned the industry on the ongoing challenges of the pandemic that have most recently resurfaced in Sydney.
"We must not lose sight of the ongoing pandemic, we will remain diligent and take every precaution, both at clubs during the week and in stadiums on match day, to ensure the health and well-being of everyone continues to be the key priority," he said.
"Scheduling the fixture in blocks provides an added level of flexibility to adjust where required, and as our recent season demonstrated, our clubs and industry have the resilience and open-mindness to adapt where needed to keep footy going for the fans."
Collingwood (14 games, including five "away") will have the most matches at the MCG, while Richmond will have 13. All teams will have at least one match at the venue.
AFL executive Travis Auld at the fixture announcement on Monday.Credit:Getty Images
Beyond the opening six rounds, the AFL has scheduled the Sir Doug Nicholls round to be spread over rounds 11 and 12, and include matches in Darwin and Alice Springs, as well as the Dreamtime Game and Sydney's Marn Grook contest. Cairns will later play host to a St Kilda home game against the Crows in round 13.
"We begin season 2021 with a renewed level of optimism, focusing on delivering fans a blockbuster schedule of matches to open the season," Auld said.
"Having so many different clubs feature in marquee timeslots is testament to the success of the AFL's equalisation policies. The competitiveness and the ability for any team to win on any day gave us great confidence in the spread of marquee timeslots to begin the season.
"The first six weeks looks as exciting as any recent season in memory. We know supporters are looking forward to the return of the AFL season and there is much for fans to look forward to, whether that be attending matches or watching the broadcast."
Auld said it had been important to schedule matches early in the season in the cities and states that had largely been without football because of the pandemic.
"Bringing footy back to capital cities that faced a very uncertain and challenging time this year due to the COVID pandemic will be uplifting for not only the fans in those states, but also for the teams themselves that haven't played in front of home crowds for basically a whole season," he said.
Jon Pierik is cricket writer for The Age. He also covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.