Essendon will play Port Adelaide in the opening round of 2002 pre-season competition. Formerly known as the Ansett Cup, a new name for the 2002 competition is still to be finalised pending sponsorship. Essendon will open its pre-season campaign at Football Park on Sunday, February 17th with the match to commence at 6.10pm. The Bombers second round match will be against the Western Bulldogs at Colonial Stadium on Saturday February 23rd at 3.10pm. The final match of the round robin will be against Fremantle at Subiaco on Saturday, March 2nd commencing at 8.40pm.

The semi-finals of the competition will be played on Friday, March 8th and Saturday, March 9th. The Grand Final will be played on Saturday, March 16th.

The four groups in the round robin competition are:

Group One
Hawthorn
Collingwood
Kangaroos
Sydney

Group Two
Fremantle
Western Bulldogs
Port Adelaide
Essendon

Group Three
Geelong
Richmond
West Coast
Carlton

Group Four
St Kilda
Melbourne
Brisbane
Adelaide