The AFL today confirmed Fremantle Oval as the venue for Fremantle’s first game in the 2015 NAB Challenge series.
The clash with Melbourne on Thursday 5 March next year at 4.10pm local time will be Freo’s first NAB Challenge game at the port venue in four years.
The club has previously played NAB Challenge games against West Coast (2011) and Geelong (2010) at Fremantle Oval, with both games proving popular with members and supporters keen to get an early insight into the pre-season form of their favourite Freo players.
In the club’s only away game for the NAB Challenge series, Fremantle take on 2014 Grand Finalists Sydney on Sunday 15 March at Drummoyne Oval, in Sydney’s inner-west.
Freo is scheduled to wrap up its NAB Challenge campaign a week later with its third and final game of the series against West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Sunday 22 March.
The AFL has scheduled all three Fremantle games to start at 4.10pm local time.
Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich said the club was pleased to have the chance to host a NAB Challenge game at Fremantle Oval.
“It’s the first time since 2011 that we’ve had a pre-season game scheduled for Fremantle Oval and from the feedback we get from our members and supporters about the NAB Challenge series, we know they’ll appreciate the opportunity to attend a game at Fremantle Oval,” Rosich said.
“The AFL has a clear policy of playing a significant number of NAB Challenge games at suburban and regional venues and we are more than happy to be a part of that in this instance at our home training base.
“We also appreciate the fact that we only have to travel once in the series, playing an away game against Sydney in round two of the NAB Challenge.
“The scheduling of our third and final game of the NAB series at Patersons Stadium against West Coast on Sunday 22 March means we get valuable game time on our home ground just two weeks out from our season-opening round one clash against Port Adelaide at the same venue on Easter Sunday.”
AFL general manager broadcasting, scheduling and major projects Simon Lethlean said the AFL had every intention of bringing the game back to the fans in 2015, starting with pre-season games.
"Fans in regional and suburban communities across Australia are unashamedly our focus throughout next year's NAB Challenge," Lethlean said.
"We're pleased to be able to take top-flight football to some of the game's most important venues."
In addition, the AFL also announced club members with game access would be entitled to attend NAB Challenge matches free of charge. Fans are being urged to sign up ahead of the start of the competition to ensure this feature applies to them.
Fox Footy will broadcast games the majority of the games live, with every televised match also available to supporters through the official AFL Live app.
The fixture for the 2015 Toyota AFL Premiership season will be released this Thursday.
Click here for the full NAB Challenge schedule.
