The Western Bulldogs have welcomed the opportunities presented to the club following the official release of the 2013 Toyota AFL Premiership Season fixture today.
Set to commence its 2013 campaign with an Easter Saturday afternoon home match against the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium, the Bulldogs’ schedule is headlined by a home multicultural round blockbuster against Essendon on Sunday, July 14.
The Essendon clash is one of eight Bulldogs games to be shown on free-to-air television in 2013, and one of 14 matches the club will play at Etihad Stadium.
Watch AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan and AFL General Manager Broadcasting, Scheduling and Legal Affairs Simon Lethlean discuss the 2013 fixture on the media player above.
Western Bulldogs Chief Executive Simon Garlick said the fixture provides the Club and its members and fans with some upside as well as some obstacles it will need to be prepared for.
“From a football perspective, 2013 presents a demanding schedule, highlighted by a slight increase of interstate travel and tough 3-4 week blocks against finalists from 2012 — but the reality is, to improve, our team needs to be put up against the best sides in the competition and this fixture provides that opportunity,” Garlick said.
“We are disappointed that from an overall perspective our games aren’t as accessible to our members and fans from a free-to-air viewpoint and in particular the prime time Friday night slot. However, we are pleased to have more consistency in our home game slots giving our fans the opportunity to turn up and support the team in the convenient, family friendly time slots of Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the most part.
View westernbulldogs.com.au's in-depth analysis of the 2013 fixture.
“We look forward to this starting in earnest against Brisbane in the traditional Saturday afternoon slot in Round 1.
“14 games at Etihad also provide an opportunity to build some continuity of performance at our Home Ground.
“We are also thrilled with the opportunity to host Essendon as the cornerstone game of Multicultural Round. This game will provide the opportunity to not only celebrate the importance of cultural diversity in our game — but to highlight our work with multicultural communities in our geographic heartland - Melbourne’s West.
“While we acknowledge the challenges presented to the Club following the release of the fixture, we will now focus on best preparing for those challenges and capitalising on the opportunities.”
Looking ahead to Season 2013, the Bulldogs will play return fixtures against 2012 finalists Adelaide and West Coast, in addition to facing Brisbane, Melbourne and Richmond twice.
The Club is confirmed to play 10 matches in the family friendly weekend daytime timeslots (four Saturday, six Sunday), in addition to seven twilight matches (four Saturday, three Sunday) and four Saturday night matches.
The Bulldogs will close out their season at home against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium in Round 23. As a floating fixture round the match timeslot will be released towards the conclusion of the home and away season.
View the 2013 Toyota AFL Premiership Season fixture.
