AFL Pre-Season Cup - (Feb 23 - Mar 17)

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NAB Cup Fixture for Pre Season Cup

WEEK ONE – February 23-25
Match No.	Match	Venue	Date	Day	Local Time	AEST)
1	Port Adelaide v Adelaide	AAMI Stadium	23 February	Friday (N)	19:10	19:40
2	Kangaroos v Collingwood	Carrara	23 February	Friday (N)	19:40	20:40
3	Western Bulldogs v Sydney	Manuka Oval	24 February	Saturday	15:40	15:40
4	Carlton v Essendon	Telstra Dome	24 February	Saturday (N)	18:10	18:10
5	St Kilda v Brisbane Lions	Cazaly Stadium	24 February	Saturday (N)	19:40	20:40
6	Geelong v Richmond	Skilled Stadium	25 February	Sunday	15:40	15:40
7	Melbourne v Hawthorn	Telstra Dome	25 February	Sunday (N)	18:10	18:10
8	Fremantle v West Coast	Subiaco	25 February	Sunday (N)	18:40	21:40
WEEK TWO – March 2-4
Match No.	Match	Venue	Date	Day	Local Time	AEST)
9	#5 v #3 (Stk/Bri v WBD/Syd)	TBA	2 March	Friday (N)	TBA	TBA
10	#7 v #4 (Haw/Mel v Car/Ess)	Aurora Stadium	3 March	Saturday (N)	18:10	18:10
11	#6 v #1 (Ric/Gee v Port/Ade)	TIO Stadium	3 March	Saturday (N)	19:10	20:40
12	#2 v #8 (Kan/Col v Fre/WCE)	Telstra Dome	4 March	Sunday	15:40	15:40
WEEK THREE – March 9-10
Match No.	Match	Venue	Date	Day	Local Time	AEST)
13	Winners of Matches 9 & 11	TBA	9 March	Friday (N)	TBA	TBA
14	Winners of Matches 10 & 12	TBA	10 March	Saturday (N)	TBA	TBA
GRAND FINAL – March 17
Match No.	Match	Venue	Date	Day	Local Time	AEST)
15	Winners of Matches 13 & 14	TBA	17 March	Saturday (N)	TBA	TBA

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Re: AFL Pre-Season Cup - (Feb 23 - Mar 17) For those of you who dont follow AFL or are unaware of what the Pre-Season Cup is, ill give you a quick run through. Basically the Pre-Season Cup is like a warm up to the real season and is always played over 4 weeks. Some teams take it seriously why other teams dont, it doesnt really mean anything prestigious as its only a 'practice' series but the winner does get $230,000 prize money which is quite a bit considering the real premier gets $250,000 Some teams use this series as a way to blood new players and give their more senior players a rest, while others field strong sides to go all out and win. But usually the best clubs dont win this and the last 2 years are a good example. In 2005 Carlton won the Pre-Season Trophy and then ended up finishing bottom of the real season, while last year Geelong won it and didnt even make the finals series. I cant remember a team who has won both the Pre-Season and Premiership trophies in the same season apart from Essendon in 2000. The Pre-Season Cup also is a means to try out different rules to our game. For example in the Pre-Season comp you get 9 points for kicking a goal outside 50 meters and you get 3 points for a deliberate rush behind. If you kick backwards in its also play on, etc. So its kind of exciting in a way, but it can hardly ever be taken serious.