Football: The Bulldogs open with a home game against West Coast, then finish with six straight matches in Melbourne from rounds 16 to 21 before back-to-back away matches in Geelong and Brisbane to round out the season. They play Geelong, St Kilda, the Sydney Swans, North Melbourne, and the Brisbane Lions twice, meaning no return clashes with the 2011 bottom two or new club Greater Western Sydney. There are eight six-day breaks, including a testing period of four in five weeks between rounds four and nine, but no consecutive interstate games.

Business: The Bulldogs will make two appearances in the coveted Friday night slot in 2012, in big home games against Geelong and Collingwood, and also have five Saturday night games. Other notable high-drawing home clashes are against Hawthorn, Essendon and Carlton, and there's also a tidy profit to be had from the home game against Gold Coast in Darwin. The Bulldogs will return for a sixth straight year to Manuka Oval in Canberra, but this time as the away team against Greater Western Sydney. They have 10 games on free to air TV.

Big match: The Manuka Oval fixture in round five has added spice with Greater Western Sydney recruits Callan Ward and Sam Reid facing their old team for the first time.

To download a pdf version of the 2012 fixture, click here.
RDDATEOPPONENTVENUEH/A LOCAL TIME
1Sunday, April 1 West Coast EaglesEtihad StadiumHome1:10pm
2Saturday, April 7 Adelaide CrowsAAMI StadiumAway7:10pm
3Saturday, April 14 St. KildaEtihad StadiumHome7:40pm
4Sunday, April 22 MelbourneMCGAway4:40pm
5Saturday, April 28 GWS GIANTSManuka OvalAway2:10pm
6Friday, May 4 CollingwoodEtihad StadiumHome7:50pm
7Sunday, May 13 North MelbourneEtihad StadiumAway1:10pm
8Saturday, May 19 Gold Coast SUNSTIO StadiumHome7:10pm
9Friday, May 25 Geelong CatsEtihad StadiumHome7:50pm
10Sunday, June 3 Sydney SwansSCGAway3:15pm
11Bye    
12Sunday, June 17 Port AdelaideEtihad StadiumHome4:40pm
13Saturday, June 23 Brisbane LionsEtihad StadiumHome2:10pm
14Saturday, June 30 EssendonEtihad StadiumAway7:40pm
15Sunday, July 8 FremantlePatersons StadiumAway2:40pm
16Sunday, July 15 HawthornEtihad StadiumHome3:15pm
17Saturday, July 21 CarltonEtihad StadiumHome7:40pm
18Sunday, July 29 St. KildaEtihad StadiumAway3:15pm
19Saturday, August 4 North MelbourneEtihad StadiumHome1:45pm
20Sunday, August 12 RichmondMCGAway3:15pm
21Sunday, August 19 Sydney SwansEtihad StadiumHome3:15pm
22Sunday, August 26 Geelong CatsSimonds StadiumAway1:10pm
23TBCBrisbane LionsGabbaAwayTBC


The views in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs