Adelaide has labelled its 2022 AFL fixture as a win for Members and fans with a Friday night Showdown headlining a host of big games at Adelaide Oval.
The Crows are also set for a trip to the MCG in Round 2 to play Collingwood in a boost for the Club’s Victorian-based Members and supporters who have been starved of footy for two years due to the pandemic.
The highlight of Adelaide’s 2022 fixture, which was announced by the AFL today, is the Round 3 home Showdown under lights on Friday, April 1.
“After joining the Club it did not take me long to work out these games are as big and intense as any rivalry in the competition,” Crows CEO Tim Silvers said.
“Getting a coveted Friday night time slot has been one of our priorities with this fixture.”
The AFL has released dates and times for the first nine rounds of the season with the remainder of the fixture to be floating.
The Crows will open their campaign at home against Fremantle in Round 1 and host Richmond in Round 5.
Other key parts of the fixture include:
- Playing Collingwood, Port Adelaide, North Melbourne, Carlton and West Coast twice.
- The Showdowns set for Round 3 and Round 23.
- A Saturday twilight home game against the Tigers during the April school holidays.
- Back-to-back home games against Brisbane and St Kilda in Rounds 9-10.
- Hosting reigning premier Melbourne and popular Victorian clubs Collingwood and Carlton in the run home. Round 20 will be the first time Carlton has played the Crows at Adelaide Oval in four years.
- Road trips to Perth, Sydney, Gold Coast, Geelong, Hobart and Ballarat.
- Hosting St Kilda in Round 10 as part of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
- The team will have the mid-season bye in Round 13.
Silvers said the League’s decision to release dates and times for only nine rounds, with the remainder of the season to be confirmed, can be viewed as a positive given the Club’s lowly finish last season.
“Traditionally, where you finish on the ladder impacts your draw and the type of time slots you receive,” he said.
“This fixture gives us the chance to perform strongly early in the season with the view to maximising our fixture opportunities in the second half of the year.
“Among that will be home games against big Victorian clubs Carlton, Collingwood and Melbourne, which will no doubt draw significant interest and crowds.”
Crows fans across the country will get the chance to see the team play in person, with trips to Perth, Sydney, Gold Coast and Hobart.
“We have six visits to Victoria which is great given our fans over there have missed out on so much footy due to COVID-19,” Silvers said.
“From a high performance viewpoint, we see the fixture as fair and reasonable with six of the first 10 games at home.
“Back-to-back travel after the bye, with the first leg in Queensland, allows us to explore the opportunity of an early departure to create a mid-season getaway for our players, coaches and staff.
“Ultimately though, we can’t wait to welcome our Members and fans back to Adelaide Oval for the season opener and hopefully venue capacity returns to what were normal levels prior to the pandemic.”
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