Australian Football Association of North America

by Johnson Leung reporting for AFANA in Melbourne

AFL heavyweights Collingwood and Carlton are big winners in the 2009 schedule released in Melbourne, featuring three timeslots to be trialled with one eye on the league's future expansion plans.   See the AFL draw here.

The 2009 season commences on Thursday, March 26 with traditional rivals Richmond and Carlton clashing at the MCG, followed by the grand final rematch between Hawthorn and Geelong at the same venue the following night. As the opening round coincides with the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, only one match will be played in Melbourne on qualifying day (March 28). On race day (Sunday, March 29), Melbourne plays North Melbourne at the MCG in early afternoon before the F1 race begins at 5pm, with Fremantle hosting Western Bulldogs in Perth after the race finishes.

The AFL will experiment with new timeslots next year, playing games on a Monday night, Thursday nights and twilight Saturday as they prepare for a new game a week to be added to the fixture in coming seasons when new teams from Gold Coast and Western Sydney come into the competition.  Hawthorn and West Coast will play a twilight Saturday game immediately after Essendon and Collingwood's Anzac Day blockbuster, similar to what the National Rugby League terms a "Super Saturday" of footy. There will also be two night games, North Melbourne v Richmond and Fremantle v Sydney.

Collingwood and St Kilda will play a Monday night game next year, on the night after Mother's Day, thus avoiding another game on a day traditionally difficult for crowds. The Monday night game, last played in the Anzac Day round of 2006, is a surprise given AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou played down the possibility of such fixtures as recently as September last year, and the AFL Players Association declaring the concept would be accepted, as long as there was an overwhelming commercial reason and players had sufficient rest between games.

AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan said the league was yet to finalize its preference on new timeslots for when two new clubs come in over the next four years, but realized it might have to look at options should the competition expand. "If a ninth (game) comes in we will have to find another broadcast slot, that is true, so where would it go? So could it be a Thursday night? Could it be a Monday night? Could it be 5 o'clock Saturday as they do in the NRL and it runs right through?" McLachlan said. "So this year we have got a Thursday night, a 5 o'clock Saturday and we have got a Monday night and we will have a look and see how it feels. I don't think we have any real plans, it is three years away but I think they create good events, it is something different as well as having a look at those slots."

While the AFL did its best to satisfy most requests from clubs and venue operators, some clubs fared better than others. Collingwood, which usually pull massive attendances and TV ratings, has 18 games in Melbourne (14 at the MCG) and 18 games on free-to-air TV (six on Friday nights). It plays seven of its first eight games and nine of its last 10 in Melbourne.  Resurgent Carlton has been rewarded by earning greater exposure in the coveted Friday night timeslot with six games next year, as well as playing foes Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond twice each and the Hawks and Cats only once each. The Blues have 16 free-to-air games and 11 prime-time matches.  Hawthorn has been given a dream opening run to kick-start its premiership defence. It plays only three of last year's finals sides in the first nine games. The Hawks also earn greater exposure on Friday nights, free-to-air TV and in Launceston, where they host St Kilda, North Melbourne, the Eagles and Brisbane Lions at their second home.

2008 wooden-spooners Melbourne was given a horror draw. The debt-ridden Demons will play 13 Sunday games in 2009, two less than this year. Six of the Sunday games will start at 1.10pm.  Horrendously, as clubs try to gather memberships in the first half of the season, the Demons play on six of the first seven Sundays. Four of those Sunday games are at the MCG.

The league again courted controversy by the scheduling of no teams to play each other a second time by round 10, and for no teams to meet for the first time in Round 22. But underlining the anomalies, Melbourne and Collingwood meet in Round 11 after playing nine weeks earlier, while in Round 21, Adelaide and West Coast play for the first time, as do Richmond and Hawthorn.  The AFL did not schedule a match on Good Friday next year, instead Geelong and Collingwood will open round three on Easter Thursday at the MCG on April 9. McLachlan said the league had discussed a Good Friday match but ruled it out after considering the pros and cons.

McLachlan said there were more than 250 considerations that had to be made before releasing the 2009 schedule, once again devised by a Canadian-based computer software used by the NFL in the US. He said the software allowed the AFL to make the considerations later than in past years, and for a much fairer schedule for all stakeholders.  McLachlan said Melbourne's request for fewer Sunday games was simply too difficult to accommodate, but conceded the club would be aggrieved with aspects of its draw. "Ultimately success on the field helps in terms of getting you into the premium slots," he said. "A couple of clubs would like different slots. Candidly, Melbourne, and to a lesser extent Port Adelaide, who would like less Sundays and more Saturdays." (Port will also play 13 Sunday matches next year)

Overall, McLachlan said the AFL is pleased with how the fixture has panned out. "(The fans) want the ability to know that they come into the start of the season (knowing) that all of the teams have a relatively equal football draw and a relatively equal possibility, given the constraints of the fixture of making the finals," he said. "There will always be issues around some clubs feeling they could've had a better commercial draw - that will always be the case and you can't satisfy every request, but on balance we're really pleased."

The summary key features of the 2009 AFL schedule include:

• Matches will be played in every state and territory in Australia.
• An equitable financial draw with all teams scheduled to play at least one of Essendon and Collingwood as a home match and one match at the MCG and Etihad Stadium (formerly Telstra Dome).
• A new Green Round in Round 20 focuses on the environment, as well as the return of Women's Round (Round 7) to complement Rivalry Round (Round 17), Anzac Round (Round 5) and an Indigenous Round (Round 9). Details of the Green Round are yet to be finalised but the AFL will look at buying green power from Origin Energy for the powering of the lights for the night games, as well as buying carbon offsets for the fuel used in flights to games.
• North Melbourne has been dealt the most bizarre fixture of the 2009 season. It will play its first 11 matches in Victoria, including eight home games in a nine-match stretch from Round 3 to Round 11 (five home games in a row from Round 3 to Round 7). The Kangaroos then play eight of their final 11 games away, with six of those 11 interstate. The club has two Friday matches (against Collingwood in Round 6 and Carlton in Round 18) and 11 Sunday matches, seven away and four home.
• Round 22 to again feature five games on the Saturday, including a tripleheader on Fox Sports, to maximise flexibility for fixturing in the first weekend of the finals. Victorian teams travelling in this round (Richmond to Perth and North Melbourne to Adelaide) are those with the greatest number of years since they travelled for a Round 22 fixture.
• Sydney to again host four matches at ANZ Stadium - to be played against Hawthorn (Round 2), West Coast (Round 8 ), Collingwood (Round 12) and Geelong (Round 20). And for the first time, the Swans will host two Saturday afternoon matches at the SCG, against Carlton and Essendon respectively.
• Richmond faces only four top-eight sides from 2008 in the first 10 rounds, but the season starts with games against Carlton, then top-four sides Geelong and the Western Bulldogs. The Tigers will face this year's top four teams five times in total, and bottom-placed teams Melbourne and West Coast twice. In the first 10 rounds, Richmond plays six of this year's bottom eight and only two teams from the top four. Six of those games will be held in Melbourne.
• Brisbane Lions have only two successive travel assignments - they meet St Kilda in Round 9 in Melbourne and return the following week to play North Melbourne, and later in the season they have an MCG double-header, Round 18 against Collingwood and then Essendon in Round 19.
• Financial strugglers Melbourne, Richmond, North Melbourne and the Bulldogs are all given home games against the big-drawing Magpies.
• All teams except Sydney Swans play at least one match on Thursday or Friday night, with a focus on the better-performed and improving teams from 2008.
• West Coast and Fremantle, which face the toughest travel load of any AFL club, are again scheduled to play home and away on alternate weekends.
• All clubs travel a minimum of five times (except Collingwood which travels four times). Richmond travels five times but one of those is a sold game to the Gold Coast. All clubs play at least one match in Perth and one match in Adelaide.
• Essendon has eight straight Melbourne games from Rounds 7-14, but travels to Subiaco twice in the final five rounds.
• The split round has been changed to be five games the first weekend and three the second, ensuring there is a game each day of the second week.
• Three games will played be on the Gold Coast - home games for Carlton, St Kilda and Richmond - but none will host Brisbane as the near neighbour was seen by the home clubs to have an advantage in playing without travelling.
• West Coast does not have to travel to Geelong for the first time since joining the AFL.
• Of the seven teams that sides play twice they have a 3-4 or 4-3 split of top eight and bottom eight sides from this year.
• Adelaide will play three home games on Saturday afternoons, two more than Port Adelaide.
• Fremantle and West Coast will each play two Saturday afternoon games at home.
• Of the 100 games that will be played in Victoria, MCG and Etihad Stadium will each host 46 games.

The schedule release came the day after the announcement that Telstra Dome would be renamed Etihad Stadium as of March 1, 2009. In a five-year, multi-million dollar deal, Etihad Airways has taken over Telstra as the naming rights partner of the Docklands venue. The deal will see the airline's branding feature prominently inside and outside the stadium, including on perimeter signage and giant scoreboards.  Etihad is the national airline of United Arab Emirates and based in the capital Abu Dhabi. It already sponsors the Ferrari Formula One team, Chelsea Football Club, Harlequins Rugby Football Club and the all Ireland Senior Hurling Championships. The Docklands deal is the airline's first major sporting sponsorship in Australia and coincides with its first flight to Melbourne starting at the end of March 2009. Telstra, which took over the naming rights agreement in October 2002 when inaugural sponsor Colonial was taken over by Commonwealth Bank, will remain the stadium's principal communications partner.

Schedule for Round 1 (all times AEST, deduct 16 hours for US Eastern Time):

Thursday, March 26

Richmond v Carlton (MCG, 7.40pm)

Friday, March 27

Hawthorn v Geelong (MCG, 7.40pm)

Saturday, March 28

Collingwood v Adelaide (MCG, 2.10pm)

Brisbane Lions v West Coast (The Gabba, 7.10pm)

St Kilda v Sydney (Etihad Stadium, 7.10pm)

Sunday, March 29

Melbourne v North Melbourne (MCG, 1.10pm)

Port Adelaide v Essendon (AAMI Stadim, 3.10pm)

Fremantle v Western Bulldogs (Subiaco Oval, 7.10pm)

Sources: afl.com.au, Melbourne Age, Herald Sun, Brisbane Courier-Mail, telstradome.com.au