Footy is officially back this week with the first club v club hitouts of the year beginning on Thursday.
Sixteen of the 18 AFL clubs will take part in unofficial match simulations on either Thursday or Friday this week before all 18 teams will be involved in the official practice games on March 2-4.
All of the unofficial match simulations will be live streamed on Kayo Sports and broadcast on Foxtel, while there will also be a free live blog on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live app this Friday for the six matches around the country, starting with North Melbourne v Richmond at 10am AEDT and going all the way through to West Coast v Port Adelaide at 7.40pm AEDT (4.40pm local).
A week later, there will be three official practice matches on each of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with games to be played in five states around the country.
These matches will also be live streamed on Kayo and broadcast on Foxtel with live scores and stats on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live app, while attendance is free.
All 18 clubs will then have a week off before the 2023 premiership season begins on Thursday March 16.
The unofficial match simulations are organised between the clubs and their duration, number of players involved and number of breaks vary as they don't have to follow the standard AFL structure. As a result, there will be no live scores and stats from these matches.
Teams for the match simulations will be announced by the clubs on the day of the match, while teams for the official practice games will be released at 5pm AEDT the day before the match.
Unofficial match simulations
Thursday, February 23
Gold Coast v Essendon, Austworld Centre Oval (Carrara), 4pm AEST (5pm AEDT), (6 x 25 min, no time on)
Official practice match
Friday, March 3
St Kilda v Essendon, RSEA Park, 4.10pm AEDT
All pre-season games will be live streamed on Kayo Sports and broadcast on Foxtel
