Ansett Australia and the AFL today launched the 2001 Ansett Cup competition, which will kick off with eight matches around Australia this weekend. Under the successful format adopted for the 2000 season, every club is guaranteed at least three matches with the winners of each of the four groups progressing on to the semi-finals.

AFL Football Operations Manager Andrew Demetriou said matches would be played in Launceston, Wellington, Cairns, Darwin and Canberra, as well as 'traditional' major grounds in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

"The Ansett Cup is a major focus for every club in the competition and Essendon showed last year just how much a strong start to the year can create momentum for the entire season," Mr Demetriou said. "Their undefeated run to win the 2000 Ansett Cup set them up for the greatest season in history and 15 other clubs are looking to challenge their supremacy."

Ansett Australia is sponsoring the competition for a seventh successive year and General Manager Ansett Domestic, Mr Andrew Miller, said the competition matched his company's goals with those of the AFL.

"Like the AFL, as Australia’s leading airline group throughout regional Australia, Ansett is committed to making football more accessible for Australians – by taking the match to more interstate destinations including Launceston, Cairns, Darwin and Canberra. We are also launching special great value Ansett Cup holiday packages to help interstate residents attend matches in other states. This year the Ansett Cup travels to Wellington again, which is a timely addition given Ansett’s recent integration as part of the Ansett Air New Zealand Group – with Air New Zealand serving as the carrier for the teams attending this match."

The Ansett Cup will feature a trial of an experimental rule which sees the removal of the line across the centre for ruckmen, designed to cut down the number of knee injuries sustained at centre bounces.Quarters will be shortened to 17.5 minutes, plus time on, with six interchange players for each game. In cases of extreme heat, the interchange bench can be extended to eight players and this has already been confirmed for matches in Darwin and Cairns. The winner of the Ansett Cup receives $125,000 out of the total prize pool of $600,000.