Gotta love the AFL's view on things
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AFL round 1 clash for top two
October 25, 2006 12:00am
GRAND finalists Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles will meet in Round 1 of the 2007 AFL competition.
They will meet at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on a Saturday night, the first time since 1990 that the two top teams of the previous season have met in the opening round.
Other notable facets of the 2007 draw, which was released today, include:
SUNDAY twilight games every weekend
THE Kangaroos will play their three home games at Carrara on the Gold Coast in Rounds four, eight and 12, with the first of those to be against the Brisbane Lions. The Roos will also open the NAB Cup at Carrara, against Collingwood, on Friday February 23.
COLLINGWOOD and Essendon will each have only a four-day break ahead of their Anzac Day clash at the MCG, which falls on a Wednesday in 2007.
HAWTHORN will play four home games in Launceston, up from three this season.
EACH club will travel interstate at least four times.
NO CLUB will be required to make consecutive interstate trips when one of those is a trip to Perth.
There has also been a change from the previous practice of having the teams which meet in the first seven rounds playing each other twice over the course of the season.
In past seasons, that has meant that Melbourne and Collingwood, which traditionally meet on the Queen's Birthday weekend, and Sydney and Collingwood, who clash during the mid-season split round, could play each other only once.
But in 2007 those match-ups will each occur twice.
AFL chief operating officer Ben Buckley, who released the schedule as well as the NAB Cup pre-season competition today, said that while the Seven and Ten networks are still negotiating with Foxtel to on-sell four games a weekend, he didn't expect any changes would be needed.
"We did the final construction of the fixture on the basis that there might be a number of different outcomes in relation to the television broadcast schedules,'' Buckley said.
"We think the fixture will be able to accommodate a number of different scenarios, ranging from Seven and Ten broadcasting all eight games to incorporating a sub-licence agreement with the pay television operator.
"We release the fixture every year subject to change, so this won't be anything new, but at this stage we don't think there will be any material changes to the fixture if certain outcomes from a broadcasting perspective ultimately occur.''
Buckley said it was anticipated the fixturing of games would lead to an overall attendance record in 2007.
"We think this is a fixture that will excite supporters and encourage them to attend games and to sign up as members,'' he said. - AAP
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20642611-11088,00.html
