westernbulldogs.com.au looks at the six key talking points to the Bulldogs' 2016 home and away season fixture.
Friday night lights
After a three year absence, the Western Bulldogs will return to the big stage of Friday night football in 2016, fixture to play three matches in the primetime slot. The Bulldogs’ first opportunity will come against 2015 Preliminary Finalists North Melbourne in a Round 6 away match at Etihad Stadium. The Dogs will also play Geelong away on a Friday night at Simonds Stadium in Round 19, and will host Collingwood in a home Friday night blockbuster under the roof at Etihad Stadium in Round 21.
On the road less
The Bulldogs’ travel schedule looks more favourable in 2016, with just five interstate trips, down from six in 2015. One sojourn interstate will be for the home match in Cairns, while the Dogs will also travel to Sydney twice (Round 9 v GWS Giants, Round 15 v Sydney Swans), Adelaide (Round 12 v Port Adelaide) and Perth (Round 23 v Fremantle). Further to this, the interstate trip to the SCG in Round 15 against the Swans will come on the back of the bye. The Bulldogs won’t travel to Launceston, Brisbane or Canberra during the home and away season. The Bulldogs played interstate six times in 2014 and seven times in 2013.
Primetime football
A winning season, and an exciting and exhilarating brand of football have been rewarded by the AFL powers, with the Bulldogs scheduled to play 12 times in the prime evening time slot– eight matches of which will be at home. All matches will be shown live on Fox Footy across the season, with a minimum of 14 Bulldogs games to be shown on Channel Seven.
Seven straight
After two early season interstate trips in 2015, the Bulldogs will open their 2016 season with seven straight games at Etihad Stadium. Following a Easter Sunday season opener under the roof at the Docklands venue, the Bulldogs will host home matches against reigning premiers Hawthorn, Elimination Final opponent Adelaide and Brisbane, and will face preliminary finalist North Melbourne, St Kilda and Carlton in away matches at Etihad Stadium.
Sunday twilights dwindle to one
After playing six Sunday twilight matches in 2014, down to two Sunday twilight games in 2015, the Bulldogs’ presence in the final fixture slot of the weekend’s continue to diminish, in 2016 they’ll play just one. The overwhelming feedback from the Club’s fans was to minimize its presence in the Sunday late timeslot, and it is something the Club has been able to deliver.
The double ups
The Bulldogs will play five teams twice in season 2016, with return fixtures scheduled against Fremantle, North Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood and St Kilda.