2021 AFL Fixture revealed – details of every game and stadium
The AFL has released the 2021 premiership season fixture, with full details for the opening six rounds, while the remainder of the season is a floating fixture.
The season commences on Thursday March 18, with the traditional season-opener between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG.
In all, the MCG will host 46 matches during the regular season, with 43 at Marvel Stadium. The Saints will play a home game in Cairns at Cazaly’s Stadium, Melbourne will again play the ‘heart of the nation’ game at Traeger Park, and after hosting the Dreamtime game this year, TIO Stadium will host a Gold Coast Suns home game in 2021.
VIEW THE FULL 2021 AFL FIXTURE
In an attempt to maximise quality games in the best timeslots, the AFL has not released dates and times for matches beyond round six. Each fixture drop will occur at least four weeks in advance of matches. Austadiums currently lists all these games on the Saturday of the scheduled weekend.
The league has tried to schedule at least one clash between arch enemies in the opening six rounds, including Essendon v Hawthorn (Round 1), Carlton v Collingwood (Round 2), Geelong v Hawthorn (Round 3), Sydney v GWS Giants (Round 5), GWS Giants v Western Bulldogs (Round 6) and Collingwood v Essendon (Round 7).
There will be two double-headers with AFL and AFLW matches – Round 1 at the Gabba: Lions v Swans following a Lions v Magpies AFLW fixture, and Round 2 at Metricon Stadium: Suns v Kangaroos in both the men’s and women’s.
Round 1 Fixture
Matches will return to full-length in 2021, with quarters returning to 20-minutes, plus time-on (matches were reduced to 16-minutes plus time-on during Covid).
The half-time break will consist of a 20-minute block with quarter-time and three-quarter time breaks to run six minutes.
There will be a 50-second gap following a goal to the resume of the centre restart, down from 60 seconds in 2020.
The 2021 AFL Grand Final will return to the MCG and will be played on Saturday 25th September. After this year’s decider was played under lights for the first time, the AFL is yet to announce what time next year’s Grand Final will commence.
The pre-season fixture was also recently announced, with 18 games to be played at 18 different stadiums around the country. Previously called the Marsh Community Series, the 2021 version will be known as the AFL Community Series. View the full pre-season schedule here.
AFL Tickets will go on sale in the new year and you can stream every AFL match live on Fox Footy on Kayo Sports.
