The Freo faithful have spoken, and they can’t wait for footy to return.
When voting for their most anticipated game, the Carlton Draught Derby, a visit from the reigning premiers and a clash at the ‘G all fell at the wayside compared to the round 1 season opener against Geelong.
After Thursday’s fixture announcement, the return of football for the last season at Domain Stadium received a whopping 42% of the 2,300 votes, as of Friday afternoon.
To some, it might be because of the “Charlie-off” between Geelong’s 2016 Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield and Freo’s own Brownlow winner, with 2015 medallist Nat Fyfe on track to make his return from injury.
To others, it’s just the excitement that footy is back – with the Geelong clash just one of many blockbuster games at home against Victoria’s crowd-pulling clubs.
On top of Geelong and the reigning premier Bulldogs in Round 3, Freo will also host Essendon (round 7), Carlton (round 9), Collingwood (round 11), Hawthorn (round 18) and Richmond in Freo’s final home and away fixture at Subiaco in round 22.
Sadly, there’s still 149 days to wait until it all gets underway.
On the plus side, it gives fans even more time to sort their best, brightest and most purple outfit for the Cats clash, when Domain Stadium shows off its true colours for the traditional Starlight Purple Haze season opener.
