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The AFL have released the 2014 AFL Draw this morning, with the season opening Collingwood hosting Fremantle at Etihad Stadium on March 14.
As has been the case in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Round 1 will be a split round. The AFL have opted for a four/five game split of matches rather than two matches on the opening weekend, as was the case in 2013.
The regular format of rounds will continue, with a Friday night match, two Saturday afternoon matches, one Saturday twilight match, two Saturday night matches, one early Sunday match, one Sunday afternoon match and the Sunday twilight match.
There will be six matches played in a designated Sunday night timeslot throughout the season, beginning with West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs in Round 1.
The new schedule sees all Victorian teams play a minimum of five interstate games through the season, while all teams will play at least once at the MCG and a minimum of four times in Victoria.
The allocation of regional matches will also follow a similar script to the 2013 season, with six matches in Tasmania – Hawthorn play four at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium, and North Melbourne two at Hobart’s Blundstone Arena – and one match in Alice Springs, Cairns and Darwin.
GWS Giants will continue playing matches in Canberra, with three games scheduled at StarTrack Oval against Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne.
After last season’s ANZAC Day fixture in New Zealand, Brisbane Lions and St Kilda will meet in Wellington as part of an ANZAC Day triple-header, along with Collingwood-Essendon at the MCG and Fremantle-North Melbourne in Perth.
Football will return to the redeveloped Adelaide Oval for the first time since the 1973 SANFL Grand Final in Round 2, when Port Adelaide and Adelaide Crows meet in Showdown 36.
The AFL has opted against expanding into more Monday night matches, with St Kilda and Carlton’s Round 8 clash at Etihad Stadium the only fixture to be played in the timeslot.
There will however be six Thursday night matches, beginning with Geelong and Adelaide at Simonds Stadium in the second week of Round 1.
With the MCG unavailable until Round 3, Hawthorn will have to wait two matches before unfurling the 2013 AFL Flag when they meet Fremantle in a rematch of this year’s Grand Final.
Hawthorn will meet former spearhead Lance Franklin in Round 8 when they head to ANZ Stadium on a Friday night, with the return fixture to be played at the MCG in Round 18.
Former Magpie Dale Thomas will come up against his former teammates twice in the season, with Carlton meeting Collingwood in Round 7 and Round 15.
The AFL have again left the final round of the home-and-away season as a ‘floating fixture’, meaning the final details of Round 23 will be determined according to prospective finals fixtures in the week that follows.
A Google spreadsheet of the fixtures by round and by club is available here.
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