Joel Bowden (Richmond), Rhett Biglands (Adelaide), Josh Fraser (Collingwood), Michael Gardiner (West Coast), Daniel Giansiracusa (Western Bulldogs), Robert Harvey (St Kilda), Brent Moloney (Geelong), Scott Thompson (Melbourne), Anthony Stevens (Kangaroos), Richard Vandenberg (Hawthorn), Andrew Welsh (Essendon) and Lance Whitnall (Carlton) attended Tuesday's launch in the parklands surrounding the MCG, and modelled the traditional club strips that will be sported by their teams in round 18, in recognition of their clubs' history.
Among the more subtly changed guernseys are Essendon's, which features a more curved and narrow red stripe, and the barely altered Magpie jumper, which is a white on black design rather than a black on white version. Carlton's heritage guernsey features a yellow yolk and Melbourne's has two red lines on a blue background rather than the traditional red V.
This weekend the umpires will shed their modern, colourful uniforms for all whites, including longer pants, and the goal umpires will once again don the classic white coats.
The AFL regards the themed round concept, introduced last season, as a success.
In round seven, the themed women's week, more than 286,000 attendees were recorded at football matches over the weekend. And in round 12, more than 288,000 people attended games. This placed the two weekends among the best attended rounds of the season.
A series of television advertisements have been produced to promote the round.
Meanwhile, the AFL, in conjunction with the Kangaroos and Hawthorn, have launched a new range of heritage street wear.
"They tell me the new range of products is edgy, fashionable and cool," AFL chief Andrew Demetriou said on Tuesday.
A special centenary beer will also be sold at the MCG on the heritage weekend.
