AFL’s greatest rivalry will take centre stage in the opening match of the NAB AFL Women’s Competition in February, with Collingwood to host Carlton at its Holden Centre oval.
The AFL finally released the full fixture on Friday, eight weeks before the start of the inaugural competition, with the Magpies and Blues getting the honour of playing the first match.
A Friday evening match on February 3 to be broadcast on Channel 7 will be played at the ground known as the Olympic Park Oval, which is on the site of the old Olympic Park stadium and sits adjacent to the Holden Centre.
Many of the matches will be played in the evening and the night, with the AFL well aware that February can be a very hot month, with the season to containing seven rounds before a Grand Final to be played on Saturday March 25 at a venue to be confirmed,
The other round one matches see two matches played on Saturday, with Adelaide to take on Greater Western Sydney at Thebarton Oval and the Western Bulldogs hosting Fremantle at Whitten Oval, while Melbourne play the Brisbane Lions at Casey Fields on Sunday evening.
Six of the 28 home and away AFL Women’s matches will be part of double-headers, either before or after JLT Community Series games.
All games will be live on TV through either Fox Footy or Channel Seven.
But the AFL has indicated that the Grand Final will not be held at one of the major footballing grounds.
“We’ll do what’s right for the feel of the match, but also for the players and what’s best for the game,” AFL game development executive Simon Lethlean said.
“I think our initial thoughts are that one of the venues we’re already using will be better suited than the MCG or Etihad at this stage.”
Full Fixture is here.