Crows pleased with program
Adelaide will play seven games in Victoria next year in a feature of the Toyota AFL premiership 2007 season fixture.
Adelaide will play seven games in Victoria next year in a feature of the Toyota AFL premiership 2007 season fixture.Crows chief executive officer Steven Trigg said: “Adelaide’s 2007 schedule is fair and reasonable, given the club’s requests were largely supported or fulfilled.“We haven’t been given too many trips all across Australia and there is no travel over long distances in consecutive weeks.“It is also pleasing to play seven matches in Victoria – and for two of these games to be at the MCG. We have a growing supporter base in Melbourne and these games are always popular with fans who want to organise weekend trips from South Australia.“A handful more Saturday night games should also be popular with our season ticketholders.”According to Trigg, most of the Adelaide Football Club’s requests were included in the draw.“We got six in Melbourne, and one at Skilled (in Geelong) which is a bonus,” he said. “We also asked to not have consecutive long leg travel, which as you see across the competition is an issue for all clubs. Last year we had a two week stint where we went from Carrara (Queensland) to Perth on a six day break, and that’s excessive. So our only consecutive travel is to Melbourne, and that’s been fulfilled.“We asked for a handful of Friday nights, and we got one at home and two away. They (the AFL) largely met our requests as well as some other things that related to commercial rather than footy.”With Sunday twilight games scheduled for round two (away) and round 20 (at home) against the Bulldogs, the Crows’ CEO is unsure how successful the time slot will be.“It’s been a long time since we’ve had twilight games here,” Trigg said. “One – we’ll find out, and two – I think it’s actually a pretty good time slot in school holidays and with holiday Mondays and the like, it alludes as being a good time slot for that.“In the middle of winter, with work beckoning the next day and (if) the weather’s not so flash it will be an interesting challenge for all clubs. We’ve got a couple, and we’ll be interested to see how they go.”Other key points from the 2007 season fixture:Adelaide opens its season at AAMI Stadium against Essendon, on Sunday, April 1.The minor round ends when Adelaide plays Collingwood at Telstra Dome on Friday, August 31.Adelaide plays 12 matches at night, including two twilight games.The first Showdown against Port Adelaide – an away game – is in round three.Adelaide returns to Carrara on the Gold Coast to play the Kangaroos in round 12.The Crows have only one trip to Perth – in round five to play Fremantle.The only other game outside of SA or Victoria is against Brisbane at the Gabba in round seven.There is only one Saturday afternoon game at AAMI Stadium.There are five Saturday night games at AAMI Stadium.Adelaide plays three Friday night games – one at AAMI Stadium and two at Telstra Dome.Adelaide plays the following teams twice in the minor round: Essendon, Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Port, Fremantle, Geelong and Brisbane.Adelaide plays Port Adelaide in the opening round of the 2007 NAB Cup on Friday, February 23, at AAMI Stadium.In season 2006, the Crows played only five premiership matches in Victoria, twice in Queensland, twice in Perth and once in Sydney.What do you think of the 2007 program??