St Kilda's full fixture for Season 2021 has been pencilled in, with the dates, times and venues for the opening six rounds confirmed by the AFL today.
The Saints' campaign will open against GWS at GIANTS Stadium on Sunday 21 March, before four successive games at Marvel Stadium against Melbourne, Essendon (away), West Coast and Richmond.
Matches against the Demons (Round 2, Saturday 27 March) and Tigers (Round 5, Thursday 15 April) will be played in prime-time slots on free-to-air television, with Brett Ratten's side coming off a five-day break before tackling the reigning Premiers in the sixth iteration of Maddie's Match.
St Kilda is set to also take part in its first ANZAC Day fixture since 2015, meeting with Port Adelaide under-lights at Adelaide Oval in Round 6.
In line with the current fixture arrangement, the Saints will travel interstate seven times, including to Cairns in Round 13 against Adelaide in place of the China game.
A run of four matches at Marvel Stadium (Rounds 9-12) will take the Saints into its Queensland clash the Crows, before playing another three games on their home deck following the bye.
The red, white and black will play top-eight sides Richmond, Port Adelaide, Geelong and West Coast twice throughout the course of the season and will also go head-to-head with Sydney in Rounds 12 and 21.
"Four games in a row early at Marvel Stadium, three matches on free-to-air (and simulcast on Fox Footy) and two in prime-time is a brilliant way to open our campaign," Chief Operating Officer Simon Lethlean said.
"The challenge has well and truly been presented to us in 2021, but it's one we need to embrace if we want to be a serious contender.
"We have a bit of travel later on in the season, but we proved last year our ability to play on the road and take it up to the best.
"We look forward to attacking the challenges that the fixture always presents and hope to again put smiles on the faces of the loyal Saints faithful throughout the 2021 season."
Ticketing information, crowd capacity and other match-day details for Season 2021 – including dates for Rounds 7-23 – will be confirmed in due course.
ROUND | DATE | OPPONENT | HOME/AWAY | VENUE | LOCAL TIME | BROADCASTER |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sunday 21 March | GWS | Away | GIANTS Stadium | 3:20pm | Seven |
2 | Saturday 27 March | Melbourne | Home | Marvel Stadium | 7:25pm | Seven |
3 | Saturday 3 April | Essendon | Away | Marvel Stadium | 4:35pm | Fox |
4 | Saturday 10 April | West Coast | Home | Marvel Stadium | 4:35pm | Fox |
5 | Thursday 15 April | Richmond | Home | Marvel Stadium | 7:20pm | Seven |
6 | Sunday 25 April | Port Adelaide | Away | Adelaide Oval | 6:10pm | Fox |
7 | Friday 30 April - Sunday 2 May | Hawthorn | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
8 | Friday 7 May - Sunday 9 May | Gold Coast | Away | Metricon Stadium | TBC | TBC |
9 | Friday 14 May - Sunday 16 May | Geelong | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
10 | Friday 21 May - Sunday 23 May | Western Bulldogs | Away | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
11 | Friday 28 May - Sunday 30 May | North Melbourne | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
12 | Friday 4 June - Sunday 6 June | Sydney | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
13 | Thursday 10 June - Monday 14 June | Adelaide | Home | Cazaly's Stadium | TBC | TBC |
14 | Thursday 17 June - Sunday 20 June | BYE | - | - | - | - |
15 | Thursday 24 June - Sunday 27 June | Richmond | Away | MCG | TBC | TBC |
16 | Thursday 1 July - Sunday 4 July | Collingwood | Away | MCG | TBC | TBC |
17 | Friday 9 July - Sunday 11 July | Brisbane | Away | The Gabba | TBC | TBC |
18 | Friday 16 July - Sunday 18 July | Port Adelaide | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
19 | Friday 23 July - Sunday 25 July | West Coast | Away | Optus Stadium | TBC | TBC |
20 | Friday 30 July - Sunday 1 August | Carlton | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |
21 | Friday 6 August - Sunday 8 August | Sydney | Away | SCG | TBC | TBC |
22 | Friday 13 August - Sunday 15 August | Geelong | Away | GMHBA Stadium | TBC | TBC |
23 | Friday 20 August - Sunday 22 August | Fremantle | Home | Marvel Stadium | TBC | TBC |