The AFL has released its official 2023 pre-season round schedule.
Each team will play an official practice match, with the majority to also play an unofficial match simulation except for the Giants and Bulldogs who have decided to play an intraclub game.
The pre-season will kick off with a match between 2022 premiers Geelong against Hawthorn on Feb 23, with runners-up Sydney to play Brisbane the following day. The Cats will also play Brisbane in one of the hotly anticipated matches over the two weeks on March 2, the other being between 2020 and 2021 premiers, Melbourne and Richmond, on March 4.
The regular season begins on March 16 with a huge game between Richmond and Collingwood.
UNOFFICIAL MATCH SIMULATIONS (all times AEDT)
Thursday February 23
Geelong v Hawthorn, GMHBA Stadium, 4pm (4 x 20min plus time on)
Gold Coast v Essendon, Austworld Oval (Carrara), 5pm (6 x 25min, no time on)
Friday February 24
North Melbourne v Richmond, Arden St, 10am (4 x 25min, 2 x2 0 min, no time on)
Carlton v Collingwood, Ikon Park, 11am (4 x25 min, no time on)
Sydney v Brisbane, Tramway Oval (Moore Park), 12pm (4 x 25min, no time on)
St Kilda v Melbourne, RSEA Park, 4pm (6 x 25 min, no time on)
Fremantle v Adelaide, Victor George Kailis Oval (Cockburn), 6.30pm (6 x 25 min, no time on)
West Coast v Port Adelaide, Mineral Resources Park (Perth) 7.40pm (4 x 28 min, 2 x 20 min, no time on)
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
OFFICIAL PRACTICE MATCHES (all times AEDT)
Thursday March 2
Hawthorn v Collingwood, UTAS Stadium, 5.10pm
Fremantle v Port Adelaide, Fremantle Oval, 7.10pm
Brisbane v Geelong, Brighton Homes Arena, 8.10pm
Friday March 3
St Kilda v Essendon, RSEA Park, 4.10pm
Sydney v Carlton, Blacktown International Sports Park, 7.10pm
West Coast v Adelaide, Mineral Resources Park (Perth) 7.40pm
Saturday March 4
GWS Giants v Gold Coast, Blacktown International Sports Park, 12.10pm
Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne, Ikon Park, 1.10pm
Melbourne v Richmond, Casey Fields, 4.10pm
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Hawthorn have extended their contract to play AFL games in Tasmania, as the island state’s quest for its own side remains up in the air.
The club on Tuesday announced they would continue to play four games a season at University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston until the end of 2025.
The Hawks will play at the venue in rounds three, six, 10 and 22 this season – the first of those matches against North Melbourne on April 1. The $13.5 million dollar agreement with the Tasmanian government also includes one pre-season game a year.
“Having this commitment provides certainty for the club while the state continues … its pursuit of its own AFL team, which we have long said we are in support of,” said Hawthorn CEO Justin Reeves.
The Tasmanian government has unveiled details of the first stage of upgrades to UTAS Stadium, which includes an additional 1000 seats and improved facilities for players and fans. The $65 million improvements, expected to be completed by early 2025, include the refurbishment of home and away change rooms and new interchange benches.
The state government is chasing $65 million from the federal government the second stage of upgrades to the stadium.
Tasmania’s push for inclusion in the national competition seemingly rests on securing federal government funding for a new $715 million roofed stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart.
The Liberal state government, which has pledged $375 million to the project, is asking for $240 million from the federal Labor government.
The AFL has committed $15 million, with the remaining $85 million to be gathered through borrowings against land sale or lease for commercial uses. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is on the record as supporting the push for a Tasmanian side, has previously said the project will be examined as part of the federal budget process.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“The Macquarie Point plan, though, is about urban redevelopment,” he told reporters on Friday.
“It is not just about a stadium, and that is the basis of the consideration that we will be giving. We take the expenditure of taxpayer funds seriously.”
The Hobart stadium proposal has proven divisive in Tasmania, with state Labor and the Greens among those opposed. AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan had no update on Tuesday, saying steps were being taken “every day” as the league weighs up whether to have a Tasmanian team.
“Big infrastructure projects take time. You have to prosecute them, tell the story well,” he said.
“I believe the impact of a team in Tasmania will be huge for the Tasmanian economy and will have implications for Tasmania much beyond football and sport – entertainment, construction jobs, pride.
“The federal government is now talking about a broader project as well … well beyond the match day in that precinct.
“You have to keep iterating, prosecuting and I have done a few of these. It takes time.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Sick man
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Blueberry like peas & corn go in & out & keep the same shape, quite bizarre. Bloody carrots after a long night on the grog in the early days was the only vegetable of note the dog & its scrumptious ways would eat it up like morning porridge.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Blueberry with honest to goodness low kilometres ethnically cleansed sun safety and highly strung ethics vendetta. Bon apertif
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Cookie in yoghurt
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Man, l hadn't thought of that, I'll have to eat some yoghurt and stink about it
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Fascinating that early Ballarat what many have forgotten that the original & native name was Balaarat or Ballaarat which was the pronunciation then & for some years after. Going on the guidance that you like myself have been on this plain for sometime. But our English way is to put the emphasis on the first part of a polysyllabic word. Early settlers of the English kind remark this practice comparing it with that of races of inferior or more or less barbarous conditions, as in countless examples in Australia & generally l think over the world, lay the emphasis on or towards the end of the word.The emphatic ending best preserves the word.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I could imagine going homeless just so l could be at the game only a shower away.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Really, how SA started compared to the rest of the colonies, is so different to what I’ve learnt about other colonies. ——— Convict Colonies: you often didn’t survive the punishment and if you did you were getting on and in poor health. SA: you buy land from an office in London, evict the Indigenous with Teutonic Efficiency (like medium grade genno cider event) as you march to where your coordinates dictate.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
I guess what l’m suggested in a perverse way is to build the stadium & have state of the art 1 bedroom dwellings beneath the oval for the homeless in Tasmania.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
He designed the Hobart Gaol, the chapel design included 36solitary confinement cells beneath the chapel floor. Nice bloke!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Dunno him
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Just don’t get Colonial architect John Lee Arthur to design it :boxing:
ScottyJ
Roar Rookie
When February hits the countdown really begins...Go Freo!!!!!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
If we wait for society to right it's ills it'll never get built.
Opps74
Roar Rookie
We are also talking $750 million in today’s dollars…think how dramatically the cost of living, goods, trades have all gone up in the last 2.5 years…what if all this continues…no one will be able to afford a ticket to go and sit in the stadium…COVID is still around and what if we have another international pandemic in 5 years time…I think the Tassie team needs to be shelved for another decade…our economy and national stability are currently in treacherous waters and it would be irresponsible for this commitment…I am a big fan of tassie coming in, should have been in place when GWS or Suns came in…but right now it has to be a decision made with the head rather than the heart
RT
Roar Rookie
$50 000 to build a home? Bargain. If you going weigh up the cost of any proposal against the cost of some houses or a hospital or similar, then governments would never do anything. It is possible for governments to do two things at once and the cost of a stadium should be looked at on its merits, not how many laptops it could otherwise finance.
Ace
Roar Rookie
Totally agree Brian and I'm a Tasmanian. A folly in my opinion. Health and accommodation is so so much more urgent.
Barry
Guest
Take a look at the crowds in 1988 vs today and factor in population growth (Melbourne has gone from 3 to 5 million people in that time). I'm not sure these stadiums are pulling in significantly bigger crowds and I don't recall people in the days of suburban grounds actually complaining and asking for the $12 chips, weak beer and plastic seats we have today.
TeamAustralia
Roar Rookie
Are these Tasmanians insane? If they intend building a new Hobart stadium for $750m all up then why the hell are they spending $130m ($65m first stage/$65m second stage) ? Meanwhile their community are suffering from homelessness, escalating hospital wait times, increasing ambulance ramping, a drug and domestic violence plague. What the hell is wrong with LNP/ALP politicians in this country?
Brian
Guest
$750m is a ludicrous price. You could build 15,000 homes for that and extinguish homelessness in Tasmania, you could buy a laptop every 2 years for ever schoolchild for 20 years or you could just send every Tasmanian a $1500 cheque. To waste that on a stadium would be diabolical