Essendon Football Club’s 2013 pre-season willkick off on the weekend of February 15-17 after the AFL today announced the NABCup format will run across a five week period, with the round robin format across the opening weekend.
The format will return to that introducedin 2011 incorporating three rounds and a stand alone Grand Final.
The first round will see the competitiondivded into six divisions of three teams apiece, to play two short-form gamesbefore all 18 clubs play two full-scale games in round two and three.
The competition will begin on the weekend of February 15-17, with three divisions playing their round-one games at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Patersons Stadium in Perth and AAMI Stadium in Adelaide.
The other three divisions will play their shortened matches on the weekend of February 22-24.
The venues for those games are Etihad Stadium, Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast and the Blacktown International Sports Park in western Sydney.
The NAB Cup Grand Final will then be heldon the weekend of March 15-16.
AFL General Manager Broadcasting,Scheduling and Legal Affairs Simon Lethlean said the first round triangular matcheswould be spread across Australia.
“TheTriangular format will feature in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia,New South Wales and Queensland, to open the NAB Cup competition acrossAustralia, with the aim to balance club travel loads as best as practicallypossible in conjunction with the Premiership Season,” Mr Lethlean said.
“Eachof these match-ups will be scheduled in the twilight / night slots in theirrespective states, to avoid any early-season heat concerns.”
Thefull-scale matches in round two and three will be played between metropolitanand regional venues to maximize the game in these areas.
Thefull NAB Cup fixture will be announced at the end of October.
FOXFooty is set to exclusively show the matches from round 1-3 before the GrandFinal is broadcast on both FOX Footy and the Seven Network.