AFL Queensland State League football will be played in Darwin, Alice Springs, Cairns, Townsville, Maroochydore, Brisbane and the Gold Coast next year, with each of the nine sides from south-east Queensland traveling to the Northern Territory to help welcome the new NT side.
Southport, Mt.Gravatt, Morningside, Brisbane Lions and Broadbeach will travel to Darwin to play the NT at TIO Stadium, while newcomers Aspley and the Western Magpies will join Labrador and Redland in going to Alice Springs to meet the NT at Traegar Park.
In other feature matches outside the south-east corner, Morningside will meet the NT at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns, Mt.Gravatt will meet the NT at Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsvile, and Aspley will host NT at Fisherman’s Road, Maroochydore.
Also, every AFLQ club will play an AFL curtain-raiser at the Gabba, while Southport and Broadbeach will host the NT at Carrara in what will be double-header matches with the Gold Coast U18 side that will play in the Melbourne-based TAC Cup.
Aspley, who have replaced the financially-stricken Zillmere Eagles as the competition’s northside flagship, will split their home games between Graham Road at Aspley and the Eagles’ former headquarters at O’Callaghan Park.
In releasing the 18-round draw for 2009 Velocity Sports Cup today, Martin King, AFLQ Football Operations Manager, said it was a fixture which had ‘something for everyone’.
“It was a logistic challenge to accommodate the constraints that come with adding an NT side to the competition but we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. It will allow us to showcase AFLQ football in the brightest light in no less than 16 different venues,
“The Brisbane Lions Reserves will host each team at the Gabba, and each team in south-east Queensland will travel at least once, which will be something new and already has been very well-received at club level,” he said.
In other features of the 2009 AFLQ Velocity Sports Cup draw:-
- The NT will open their Velocity Sports Cup campaign against 2008 premiers Southport and 2007 premiers Mt.Gravatt in round 1 and round 3 in Darwin, split by the Lions at the Gabba in the curtain-raiser to the Brisbane-Collingwood AFL blockbuster.
- In addition to five games in Darwin and four games in Alice Springs, the NT will play twice at Carrara and once at the Gabba, Cairns, Townsville, Maroochydore and AFLQ club grounds at Victoria Point (Redland), Cooke-Murphy Reserve (Labrador) and Sherwood (Western Magpies).
- Geelong AFL premiership player Nathan Ablett is set to make his AFLQ debut for Broadbeach in a standalone Gold Coast feature game at Merrimac Oval in round 1.
- Broadbeach will play the NT in Darwin in Round 9 in a curtain-raiser to the AFL clash between Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.
- Aspley will host an Anzac Day Round 3 twilight game against Labrador at O’Callaghan Park The Carrara double-headers in Round 6 and Round 17 involving the NT against Broadbeach and Southport will also feature the Gold Coast against the Dandenong Stingrays and the Bendigo Pioneers from the TAC Cup.
- The Queen’s Birthday weekend (6-7 June) has been set aside for representative football. Details are still to be confirmed.
- The Velocity Sports Cup grand final will be played for the fourth year in a row at Carrara on Sunday 20 September – the weekend before the AFL grand final.
- One final could be played in Darwin in either of the first two weeks of the
finals if the NT side earns the right to host a final.
King explained that the decision to share Aspley home games between Graham Road and O’Callaghan Park was a calculated move to ensure the code maintained a strong presence at the former Zillmere Eagles home, which will also be used for State junior representative fixtures, among other things. “We want Aspley to embrace the entire north side so that means they play at both venues,” he said.
King said the four games in Alice Springs had to be played in two back-to-back blocks to assist with the NITV (National Indigenous Television) coverage. So, the Western Magpies and Aspley will play the NT there in Rounds 7-8, and Labrador and Redland likewise in Rounds 14-15.
Morningside will fly the AFLQ flag in Cairns because they have strong recruiting links to the region.
Click on the link below to view the complete fixture and comments by Marty King
Last Modified on 24/11/2009 10:20