2011 Toyota AFL Premiership season draw

The AFL today announced the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership Season would open at the game’s home – the MCG  – on Thursday March 24.

Click here to view the season draw. Click here to view each club’s fixture.

AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan released the fixture today, after an extensive four-month development process. Carlton will play Richmond in the season-opener, followed by the Geelong Cats hosting St Kilda, again at the MCG, in the first Friday night encounter for the season.

On Saturday March 26 reigning AFL Premier Collingwood will begin its season against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium, and the following day James Hird will make his coaching debut when Essendon plays the Western Bulldogs, also at Etihad Stadium.

In 2011, the AFL competition will expand to 17 clubs with the entry of the Gold Coast Football Club and Mr McLachlan said the inclusion of the Suns had presented many challenges with the excitement of their arrival at AFL level.

“The Suns will make their debut in round two, playing Carlton at the Gabba, and their first home match at the redeveloped Gold Coast Stadium will be in round 10, against the Geelong Cats,” Mr McLachlan said.

“Collingwood has indicated it will unfurl its premiership flag in round three against Carlton at the MCG in what should be a blockbuster event in front of more than 80,000 people on Friday night.”

Mr McLachlan said the inclusion of Gold Coast FC meant the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership Season required a bye, with 187 matches now to be played across 24 home and away rounds. All clubs will play 11 home games and 11 away games, with two byes each.

“The season structure features 19 rounds of eight matches with one bye and five rounds of seven matches, with three byes to best manage the spread of byes for all clubs,” Mr McLachlan said.

“The introduction of the bye has presented a number of new challenges for our fixturing team, but I believe we have produced the best-possible combination of matches to allow all clubs to contest for a finals berth, achieve our key outcomes of maximising attendances and developing the game across all states and territories and ensuring clubs can continue to secure their long-term off-field health,” he said.

“I think this fixture is very well balanced and has something for everyone. The 2011 season may be 144 days away but we are already excited about the move into new markets on the Gold Coast and Cairns and continuing our reach into Australia’s capital cities and Tasmania,” he said.

In 2010, the AFL clubs produced record attendances of 7,146,748 across the Toyota AFL Premiership Season and Toyota AFL Finals Series.

“We’ve built our partnership with the AFL by aligning Toyota to the spirit and passion of football, the same attributes that drive Toyota. We are thrilled to continue supporting this great game and look forward to another successful season in partnership with the AFL,” said Wayne Gabriel of Toyota’s Promotions and Events National Marketing Division.

Key features of the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership Season include:

• All teams, except the Gold Coast Suns, to play at least one match on either Thursday or Friday night. The Sydney Swans will play a home Friday match on April 29, v Carlton at the SCG – its first Friday night game there since it played Melbourne in round 5 in 2003.

• Every club to play at least one match at the MCG.

• Retention of home and away big-drawing Victorian match ups between Collingwood / Carlton, Carlton / Richmond, Essendon / Collingwood, Geelong Cats / Collingwood, Essendon / Richmond, Hawthorn / Geelong Cats and Collingwood / St Kilda, as well as two WA derbies and two SA showdowns.

• Collingwood to unfurl its 2010 premiership flag against Carlton at the MCG in round three.

• Queensland intra-state rivals, the Gold Coast Suns and the Brisbane Lions, will now also meet twice.

• A `Footy Fiesta’ (inspired by Lionel Richie) to be played on nine of 11 days stretching across rounds five and six, including Brisbane Lions and St Kilda at the Gabba on Easter Thursday, matches played on Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday (Anzac Day), and Tuesday (public holiday for Anzac Day), while Round Six will open on Thursday night at Patersons Stadium with West Coast Eagles playing host to Melbourne.

• Two Anzac Day matches with Essendon to host Collingwood at the MCG, and Fremantle again hosting a home match against Western Bulldogs in the Len Hall tribute game.

• The rematch of the 2010 Toyota AFL Grand Finals between Collingwood and St Kilda to be played at the MCG in Round 11. They will meet again at Etihad Stadium in round 21.

• Geelong to play North Melbourne at Skilled Stadium in round seven which will see twin brothers Chris and Brad Scott go to head to head as senior coaches in an Australian sporting first.

• Round 24, like round 22 in 2010, will be a floating fixture to maximise fixturing flexibility in the first weekend of the Toyota AFL Finals Series. The round will be set in the lead-up to the finals.

• Richmond to play a home game against Gold Coast Suns at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns – the first AFL home and away match played in Cairns.

• Carlton to play St Kilda on a Monday night on May 9.

• The Sydney Swans to have three matches at ANZ Stadium – Essendon (round two), Collingwood (round 14) and St Kilda (round 22).

• The Swans eight matches at the SCG will be against the Geelong Cats, Carlton, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Richmond, Fremantle, Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions.

• Western Bulldogs to host Sydney Swans at Manuka in round seven.

• Port Adelaide to play two matches as the away team at Darwin’s TIO Stadium – against Richmond in round 10 and Melbourne in round 17.

• Four matches at Aurora Stadium spread across the season will see Hawthorn host West Coast Eagles (round four), Gold Coast Suns (round 15), Brisbane Lions (round 16) and North Melbourne  (round 20)

Mr McLachlan said all clubs had been contacted in relation to their fixture over the last fortnight with the document completed after discussions with the AFL’s broadcast partners – the Seven Network, Channel Ten and Fox Sports – and venues.

“Our game is privileged to have membership and attendance support that is unmatched in Australia,” Mr McLachlan said.

“With the support of our broadcast partners, we aim to have the widest possible coverage of all 187 home and away games, along with  the nine matches of the finals series.”

The fixture, for a standard round, retains its recent model of one Friday match, two Saturday day games, two Saturday night games, one Sunday early game, one Sunday afternoon game and one Sunday twilight game. This is varied for some rounds, including rounds one and 24, public holidays and rounds of seven matches.

Mr McLachlan said he wished to thank his fixturing team, led by Simon Lethlean, for all their work and the AFL’s premier partner Toyota for its continued support as it looked forward to an exciting 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.