Adelaide Oval games announced in AFL fixtures frenzy
Adelaide Oval will host two Crows and Power games in three days next month, with the AFL kicking off 33 games across 20 days from next Wednesday night.
Port Adelaide will host the Western Bulldogs on Monday, August 3, with Adelaide to play Melbourne on Wednesday, August 5.
The AFL released the fixture for rounds nine to 12 on Tuesday night, with games set to be held in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania across that time.
There will be 33 games in total across the 20 days.
Some teams face four-day breaks, while others will have a bye during the four-round block.
The AFL struck a deal with the AFLPA to lift the freeze on signing contracts from 2021, while securing approval for four-day breaks.
“We have taken the opportunity to compress the season as the feedback from clubs is that while they are in a hub environment there was a desire to play more games in a shorter period of time, and in turn we can effectively complete the season in a quicker format,” AFL general manager of clubs and broadcasting Travis Auld said.
“Given that we don’t have the ability to prioritise attendance at matches this season, it allows us to play games in the non-traditional time-slots of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night and showcase our game across the entire week.”
The fixture includes double headers on Thursday nights in round nine and 10, on the Monday night of round 11 and on the Wednesday night of round 10.
Brisbane, Collingwood, Geelong, Melbourne and North Melbourne face two four-day breaks, while Adelaide, Essendon, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide, Richmond and St Kilda have one.
Port Adelaide will play four games in 16 days and coach Ken Hinkley flagged rotating “seven or eight players in one game” as part of their management plan.
“We’ll respect the competition as best we possibly can as coaches, we’ll pick our best teams as often as we can but there will be some constraints that are unusual and we’ll have to manage,” Hinkley said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“But our first conversations tonight would be ‘when do we do this and how often do we need players to play?’
“We looked at our list straight away and we feel like we’ve got 35+ players who are capable of helping us out over this next four-game block – and we’re going to be leaning and calling on most of those players, I’d imagine.”
Every team will have a bye either in the upcoming block of fixtures or the next – bar Essendon and Melbourne, due to their postponed round three match.
Carlton, Fremantle, Hawthorn and West Coast have the bye in round 10.
After round 10, Sydney and GWS will travel to Perth and have a bye in round 11 while they fulfil quarantine requirements.
They will play each other in round 12 and are set to play West Coast and Fremantle in the next block of fixtures.
Geelong and Collingwood will depart the WA hub after round nine and head to Queensland for round 10.
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Hawthorn and Carlton head to WA ahead of round nine and will spend the entire fixture block in that hub.
Pending state government exemption, North Melbourne will temporarily relocate to Hobart and play Melbourne and Brisbane at Blundstone Arena in rounds 11 and 12.
Revised fixtures list
Wednesday, July 29
Western Bulldogs v Richmond, Metricon Stadium, 7.10pm
Thursday, July 30
Carlton v Hawthorn, Optus Stadium, 5.40pm
Melbourne v Port Adelaide, Gabba, 8.10pm
Friday, July 31
Essendon v Brisbane, Metricon Stadium, 7.50pm
Saturday, August 1
North Melbourne v Adelaide, Metricon Stadium, 2.35pm
St Kilda v Sydney, Gabba, 5.10pm
West Coast v Geelong, Optus Stadium, 8.10pm
Sunday, August 2
Gold Coast v GWS, Metricon Stadium, 3.35pm
Fremantle v Collingwood, Optus Stadium, 8.10pm
ROUND 10
Monday, August 3
Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs, Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm
Tuesday, August 4
Richmond v Brisbane, Metricon Stadium, 7.10pm
Wednesday, August 5
Geelong v North Melbourne, Gabba, 5.40pm
Adelaide v Melbourne, Adelaide Oval, 8.10pm
Thursday, August 6
Collingwood v Sydney, Gabba, 5.40pm
Gold Coast v St Kilda, Metricon Stadium, 8.10pm
Friday, August 7
Essendon v GWS, Metricon Stadium, 7.50pm
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Byes: Fremantle, West Coast, Hawthorn, Carlton
ROUND 11
Saturday, August 8
Port Adelaide v Richmond, Adelaide Oval, 4.35pm
Brisbane v Western Bulldogs, Gabba, 7.40pm
Sunday, August 9
West Coast v Carlton, Optus Stadium, 3.35pm
North Melbourne v Melbourne, Blundstone Arena, 6.10pm
Monday, August 10
Geelong v St Kilda, Gabba, 6.10pm
Fremantle v Hawthorn, Optus Stadium, 8.40pm
Tuesday, August 11
Adelaide v Collingwood, Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm
Wednesday, August 12
Gold Coast v Essendon, Metricon Stadium, 7.10pm
Byes: GWS, Sydney
ROUND 12
Thursday, August 13
Sydney v GWS, Optus Stadium 8.10pm
Friday, August 14
Geelong v Port Adelaide, Gabba, 7.50pm
Saturday, August 15
North Melbourne v Brisbane, Blundstone Arena, 2.35pm
Melbourne v Collingwood, Gabba, 5.10pm
Fremantle v Carlton, Optus Stadium, 8.10pm
Sunday, August 16
Western Bulldogs v Adelaide, Metricon Stadium, 1.05pm
St Kilda v Essendon, Gabba, 3.35pm
West Coast v Hawthorn, Optus Stadium, 6.10pm
Monday, August 17
Richmond v Gold Coast, Gabba, 7.10pm.
-with AAP
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