The Crows will play their first game of 2015 in Port Lincoln as part of the NAB Challenge.
Adelaide will take on North Melbourne at Centenary Oval in Port Lincoln on Sunday, March 1, at 4:10pm (CDT). The match will be a preview to the Round One Premiership Season game between the two teams at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, April 5.
The Port Lincoln fixture will be a homecoming for Eddie Betts. Crows great Graham Johncock, who wore the No.18 jumper at Adelaide for 12 seasons before handing it to second cousin Betts, also hails from Port Lincoln. The popular 227-game veteran returned home after retiring from AFL in 2013. The Crows previously visited Port Lincoln in 2007 for a Community Camp and trial game in 2005.
Adelaide’s second game of the three-match NAB Challenge series is against Geelong at Simonds Stadium on Thursday night, March 12.
The Club will round out its pre-season campaign with a summer ‘Showdown’ against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday March, 21 at 3:40pm local time. Club members will receive free entry to the games. All matches will be broadcast on Fox Footy.
A number of suburban and regional venues will host games during the month-long festival of football.
Blacktown (NSW), Mandurah (WA), Burpengary (Qld), Townsville (QLD), Fremantle Oval (WA), Coffs Harbour (NSW), Morwell, (Vic), Shepparton (Vic), North Ballarat (Vic), Albury (NSW) will again host pre-season clashes while Drummoyne (NSW), Norwood (SA) and Port Lincoln (SA) get their first taste of AFL football.
AFL General Manager – Broadcasting, Scheduling and Major Projects Simon Lethlean said the League had every intention of bringing the game back to the fans in 2015, starting with pre-season games.
"Fans in regional and suburban communities across Australia are unashamedly our focus throughout next year's NAB Challenge," Lethlean said.
"We're pleased to be able to take top-flight football to some of the game's most important venues."
In addition, the League also announced club members with game access would be entitled to attend NAB Challenge matches free of charge. Fans are being urged to sign up ahead of the start of the competition to ensure this feature applies to them.
Each team will play three NAB Challenge games across four weeks in 2015. Every club will play two matches in the opening three weeks and a final game in the fourth week. The fourth and final week of the competition will see matches staged at metropolitan AFL venues to maximise team preparations ahead of the premiership season.
The last week of matches will feature derbies in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT, along with traditional match-ups between Victorian clubs at Etihad Stadium, including a double-header at that venue on March 21.
"This structure accommodates the needs of our clubs in terms of managing player workloads and planning their preparations during a very important month," Lethlean said.
Match 1
Adelaide v North Melbourne
Sunday, March 1
Port Lincoln
4:10pm (CDT)
Match 2
Adelaide v Geelong
Thursday, March 12
Simonds Stadium
7:10pm (EDT)
Match 3
Adelaide v Port Adelaide
Saturday, March 21
AAMI Stadium
3:40pm (CDT)
