Essendon will face off against St Kilda and the Brisbane Lions in round one of next year’s NAB Cup.

The revised competition will see the AFL’s 16 clubs, plus newcomers Gold Coast and Team GWS, placed in six pools.

Each club will play two matches in their pool against the other two sides, with all round one matches being shortened games, comprising two 20-minute halves (approximately) across a three-hour window for the three matches. 

Essendon, St Kilda and the Brisbane Lions have been grouped together at Etihad Stadium on the Friday night of February 18 2011.

The introduction of the Gold Coast Football Club, as the competition’s 17th side from 2011 onwards, had meant the AFL was not able to continue with a traditional four-week straight knockout competition for the NAB Cup. 

Under the new format that was announced in May 2010, the six winners of each division will qualify for round two, along with the two other sides that have the best records among all the other teams, to allow for a traditional quarter-final set up of eight teams, before moving into semi finals and a grand final over a three-week period. 

AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan said all matches in the NAB Cup would be broadcast by one of the AFL’s partners – Channel Seven, the Ten Network or Fox Sports – with the final to be broadcast by Channel 7 on Friday March 11. 

“We are looking forward to seeing how the new format will work for round one next year,” Mr McLachlan said. 

“The shortened format will allow players and teams to adjust their preparation for the season, before playing full-scale matches from week two of the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge competitions, and then beginning the premiership season in late March.

In round one, supporters will see their team play twice and, all up, there will be three matches played during a three-hour period,” he said. 

“We had received a lot of feedback from clubs that three full-scale pre-season matches was the right number for them in terms of their preparation for the premiership season, and this format allows for three matches, along with a first week where players can play one match for 40 minutes, with a light run, or play both games for 80 minutes of football.”

Mr McLachlan said the venues for NAB Challenge matches would be announced later this year but would again include a range of venues outside capital cities to allow people in regional Australia to see AFL players in action.