A FRIDAY night clash to open the season, two AFL curtain raisers at GMHBA Stadium and a possible return to the MCG highlight the Geelong VFL Men’s fixture for 2019.
The Cats will host Richmond on April 5 to kick off their campaign – the first of eight games at the club’s traditional home.
However, they will have to wait until Round 15 meeting with Sandringham to play before their AFL brothers at GMHBA Stadium.
That will be followed by a clash with North Melbourne in Round 19.
VFL Operations Manager Ben Waller says a range of factors has limited the number of curtain raisers fixtured.
“The hard part is that we need the (VFL and AFL) teams to correspond when we play at GMHBA Stadium,” he said.
“Because we play so many interstate teams, they obviously don’t have a VFL team, so it’s hard to have many more than that.
“There’s probably one or two other occasions we would have like to have done it, but the draw just didn’t match-up.
“Teams have to share coaches boxes, change rooms, races – it just becomes too complicated when you have a third club involved at GMHBA.”
Geelong will meet Essendon in Round 5, with the door open for the Bombers’ home game to be played at the MCG before the two clubs clash at AFL level.
“As is the case with a number of the curtain raisers across the competition, clubs put in requests to play AFL curtain raisers and they won’t get confirmed for a little while yet,” Waller said.
“At this stage, it’s either at the MCG or Windy Hill.”
Geelong will play 18 games across 21 rounds, with byes in rounds 4, 11 and 17.
Seven of their matches will be double-headers with the Cats’ VFL Women’s team (two at home, five away).
They will face return meetings against the Bombers, Roos, Tigers and Northern Blues.
Geelong’s Women, who finished runner-up in 2018, open their season with a trip to Melbourne University.
In Round 2, they will take on Essendon at Central Reserve in Colac.
“We had the JLT game down there against Essendon, which was a fantastic day; we got a lot of support from the Colac community,” Waller said.
“We’ve talked to them a couple of times about playing a VFLW game down there.
As well as Colac, the Cats will play home games at GMHBA Stadium (three), Deakin University (two) and Queens Park (one) in a 14-game season.
The final match at GMHBA Stadium will be a curtain raiser to the AFL Men’s Round 23 meeting, with both teams playing Carlton.
“It worked really well against Carlton (in 2018),” Waller said. “It was great, the crowd that came in early and supported the girls last year.
“We will try and keep having at least one curtain raiser in the fixture.
“We’ll just have to wait until the details are confirmed around that Round 23 game, from an AFL point-of-view, then we can confirm what time the VFLW game starts.”
The Cats will play Uni and the Blues twice as the competition moves to a top six.
Twitter: @tom_king79
2019 GEELONG VFL FIXTURE
| ROUND | DATE | OPPONENT | VENUE | TIME |
| 1 | Friday, April 5 | Richmond | GHHBA Stadium | 7:30pm |
| 2 | Sunday, April 14 | Northern Blues | GMHBA Stadium | 1:00pm |
| 3 | Saturday, April 20 | Werribee | Avalon Airport Oval | 1:00pm |
| 4 | Bye | |||
| 5 | Sunday, May 5 | Essendon | MCG/Windy Hill | 11:40am* |
| 6 | Sunday, May 12 | North Melbourne | Avalon Airport Oval | 2:30pm |
| 7 | Sunday, May 19 | Collingwood | GMHBA Stadium | 1:00pm |
| 8 | Saturday, May 25 | Coburg | GMHBA Stadium | 2:00pm |
| 9 | Sunday, June 2 | Footscray | Whitten Oval | 2:00pm |
| 10 | Saturday, June 8 | Richmond | Punt Road | 11:00am |
| 11 | Bye | |||
| 12 | Saturday, June 22 | Frankston | GMHBA Stadium | 2:00pm |
| 13 | Saturday, June 29 | Northern Blues | IKON Park | 2:00pm |
| 14 | Saturday, July 6 | Box Hill | Box Hill City Oval | 2:00pm |
| 15 | Saturday, July 13 | Sandringham | GMHBA Stadium | 3:45pm* |
| 16 | Saturday, July 20 | Casey Demons | Casey Fields | 2:00pm |
| 17 | Bye | |||
| 18 | Sunday, August 4 | Port Melbourne | North Port Oval | 2:00pm |
| 19 | Saturday, August 10 | North Melbourne | GMHBA Stadium | 3:45pm* |
| 20 | Sunday, August 18 | Williamstown | Williamstown | 1:00pm |
| 21 | Sunday, August 25 | Essendon | GMHBA Stadium | TBC |
| *AFL Curtain Raiser |
2019 GEELONG VFL WOMEN’S FIXTURE
| ROUND | DATE | OPPONENT | VENUE | TIME |
| 1 | Sunday, May 12 | Melbourne Uni | Melbourne Uni | 2:30pm |
| 2 | Saturday, May 18 | Essendon | Central Reserve – Colac | 12:00pm |
| 3 | Saturday, May 25 | Collingwood | GMHBA Stadium | 11:30am* |
| 4 | Sunday, June 2 | Western Bulldogs | Whitten Oval | 11:30am* |
| 5 | Saturday, June 8 | Richmond | Punt Road | 2:30pm** |
| 6 | Bye | |||
| 7 | Saturday, June 22 | Casey Demons | GMHBA Stadium | 11:30am* |
| 8 | Saturday, June 29 | Carlton | IKON Park | 11:00am* |
| 9 | Saturday, July 6 | Hawthorn | Box Hill City Oval | 11:30am* |
| 10 | Saturday, July 13 | Southern Saints | Deakin University | 1:00pm |
| 11 | Bye | |||
| 12 | Saturday, July 27 | Darebin | Bill Lawry Oval | 12:00pm |
| 13 | Sunday, August 4 | NT Thunder | Queens Park | 1:00pm |
| 14 | Saturday, August 10 | Melbourne Uni | Deakin Unversity | 1:00pm |
| 15 | Sunday, August 18 | Williamstown | Williamstown | 4:00pm** |
| 16 | August 24/25 | Carlton | GMHBA Stadium | TBC*** |
| *VFL Curtain Raiser | ||||
| **VFL Curtain Closer | ||||
| ***AFL Curtain Raiser |
