Essendon has been rewarded for its rise up the AFL ladder and on field performance with a return to the big stage in 2018.
Following the release of the AFL fixture today, the Bombers feature in a number of marquee matches in prime time slots, including one Thursday night, four Friday night and four Saturday night games across the season.
The Bombers will play blockbuster home games at the MCG against traditional Victorian rivals Hawthorn, Richmond (Dreamtime at the ‘G) Geelong (Country Game) and Collingwood.
Etihad Stadium will host seven home games against Melbourne, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and Sydney.
Essendon CEO, Xavier Campbell, said the club was pleased with the 2018 fixture overall.
“It’s pretty exciting. I think the AFL has certainly rewarded us for our exciting brand of football and on-field performance,” Campbell said.
“That is something that we’d hope would come, once we started playing attractive football and the fans really start to come out and see it, for us that’s really exciting.”
“It’s great to be back on prime-time football, in particular on Friday nights.
“I think commercially it’s great to be back in the prime-time, when it comes to generating eyeballs, really strong attendance, prime time football, Friday night football in particular is a platform we want to be playing on and that is something we have made known publicly on many occasions.
“For our commercial team, they will be pretty excited about that, in front of the fans, particularly those in Melbourne that will be able to come to Friday night games at Etihad.”
Essendon will play six matches on a Sunday, including three of which will be home games.
“As much as you love playing prime-time football (Friday and Saturday night), I think having a balance in your fixture is really important and to still have a good number of Sunday afternoon games, I know our fans will really appreciate that balance as well,” Campbell said.
“It is a really family friendly time on a Sunday, a time that we really like playing in.”
Essendon will kick off the Season, on March 23, with a home game against the Adelaide Crows at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
“They were clearly a very good side in 2017 and really pushed us both times we played them. They play an exciting brand of football. Etihad stadium on a Friday night, I think an absolute sell out is on the cards there and a match up we are really looking forward to,” Campbell said.
Campbell said the Club was disappointed the AFL was unable to fixture an additional home game at the MCG.
“We are certainly pushing to try and find an additional game at the MCG. Certainly for us, having a greater presence from a home game perspective, it would be something we would like to explore and we have made that known to the AFL,” Campbell said.
Essendon will play Richmond, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Fremantle twice in 2018. Richmond is the only side the Bombers play twice from the top six this season.
The team will travel six times interstate. Twelve of the Bombers games will be live on free-to-air TV.
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Round one
Essendon v Adelaide
Friday 23 March
Etihad 7:50pm
Round 2
Fremantle v Essendon
Saturday 31 March
Perth Stadium 4:40pm
Round 3
Western Bulldogs v Essendon
Sunday 8 April
Etihad Stadium 3:20pm
Round 4
Essendon v Port Adelaide
Sunday 15 April
Etihad Stadium 1:10pm
Round 5
Collingwood v Essendon
Wednesday 25 April
MCG 3:20pm
Round 6
Essendon v Melbourne
Sunday 29 April
Etihad 1:10pm
Round 7
Essendon v Hawthorn
Saturday 5 May
MCG 2:10pm
Round 8
Carlton v Essendon
Saturday 12 May
MCG 2:10pm
Round 9
Essendon v Geelong
Saturday 19 May
MCG 4:35pm
Round 10
GWS v Essendon
Saturday 26 May
Spotless Stadium 7:25pm
Round 11
Essendon v Richmond
Saturday 2 June
MCG 7:25pm
Round 12
Brisbane v Essendon
Sunday 10 June
The Gabba 1:10pm
Round 13
Bye
Round 14
West Coast Eagles v Essendon
Thursday 21 June
Perth Stadium, 6:10pm
Round 15
Essendon v North Melbourne
Sunday 1 July
Etihad Stadium, 3.20pm
Round 16
Essendon v Collingwood
Sunday 8 July
MCG, 3.20pm
Round 17
Gold Coast SUNS v Essendon
Saturday 14 July
Metricon Stadium, 7:25pm
Round 18
Essendon v Fremantle
Saturday 21 July
Etihad Stadium, 4:35pm
Round 19
Essendon v Sydney
Friday 27 July
Etihad Stadium, 7:50pm
Round 20
Hawthorn v Essendon
Saturday 4 August
MCG, 1:45pm
Round 21
Essendon v St Kilda
Friday 10 August
Etihad Stadium, 7:50pm
Round 22
Richmond v Essendon
Friday 17 August
MCG, 7:50pm
Round 23
Port Adelaide v Essendon
Adelaide Oval
(Date and time to be confirmed by the AFL in the weeks leading up to the match)
