Friday March 22
Sandringham Zebras v Collingwood 4:05pm AEDT RSEA Park, Melbourne • Kulin Nations
Frankston v Williamstown Kinetic Stadium, Frankston • Boon Wurrung/Bunerong 7:35pm AEDT
Saturday March 23
Gold Coast Suns v Richmond 12:05pm AEDT People First Stadium, Gold Coast • Yugambeh
Southport v Port Melbourne 1:05pm AEDT Fankhauser Reserve, Southport
Essendon v Brisbane Lions 1:05pm AEDT NEC Hangar, Essendon
Geelong v Werribee Tigers 2:05pm AEDT GMHBA Stadium, Geelong • Wadawurrung
North Melbourne v Northern Bullants 3:05pm AEDT Arden Street Oval, Melbourne • Wurundjeri
Sunday March 24
Sydney Swans v Coburg Lions 12:05pm AEDT Tramway Oval, Sydney
Footscray Bulldogs v GWS Giants 12:05pm AEDT Whitten Oval, Melbourne • Wurundjeri/Boon Wurrung
Casey Demons v Box Hill Hawks 2:05pm AEDT Casey Fields, Melbourne • Wurundjeri/Boon Wurrung
Round 1 is finally here.
I'm tipping a resurgent Port Melbourne will provide a much better showing than the heavy defeat up against Southport last year.
Frankston v Williamstown is the pick of the games for mine, played in front of a big and rowdy Dolphins crowd.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Hoping for a good one, North Port - think i'll stick to the other side of the ground though
It'll no doubt be a vocal crowd on the hill tomorrow.
You'd expect Williamstown to be well above us this year so I can't really go into this with much hope of a win. But I do hope we at least play well. Getting blown off the park would just about be the worst way to start with a new coach and system.
Just read this on Twitter from Paul Amy : The wheel turns. Twelve years ago Justin Plapp hired a lad straight out of high school as a development coach and statistician for Sandy Dragons. On Friday night against Frankston, Plapp, now at Williamstown, will coach against his former young assistant, Jackson Kornberg.
We'll be on the "other side" too Wally. We usually park ourselves on the forward flank near the sausage sizzle. Come say hello. Look for the two blokes with camping chairs.
is that on the western side of the grandstand aj?
Yes Wally, just in front of the western end of it.
is there a bar there also selling cans? I seem to remember it from last year
Yes mate, that will be in appearance again I think.
fabulous aj, beer and food, a total resort, cheers
We live large at Kinetic mate, haha
They'll have the sausage sizzle running next to the granstand no doubt. Apparently there are plans to build a permanent canteen within that end of the grandstand as well.
I saw a chunk of the second half of the Dolphins v Willy game. Looked good on the TV. Looked like a healthy crowd and Frankston were competitive and still have a lot too look forward to, despite the loss last night.
In the other game, I thought St Kilda recent success might have rubbed off on the Zebras, but it was a comfortable win by Collingwood.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
I'm not too upset with yesterday's loss, although I can't help but wonder what might have been had we taken our chances. But I'm happy that we were in the contest until the end and it was only two late goals that pushed the margin out to 21 points. I think the Williamstown supporters around us were more relieved than anything else when the siren went.
I just hope that hunger and passion the boys showed last night persists beyond this week. They were clearly up for the fight against Williamstown but if they bring that pressure to every game this season they'll be a serious threat.
Great atmosphere down there last night with a whopping crowd. Hope we can make attendances like that a regular thing. I'd be interested to hear from opposition supporters what they think about coming to Frankston as an experience in general? I think our current administration are doing a great job, but there is always room for improvements.
We came down Friday arvo and had a wander around the town, it was glorious in the sun particularly down at the foreshore. We went to The Grand for dinner before the game but that didn't happen (a story for another day perhaps) and had to make do with a snag from the Rotary Club BBQ at the ground which was awesome. There was a very healthy and vocal crowd, particularly on the social club hill, the beer was cold and plentiful and the Seagulls came away with a hard-fought win. We'll be back again next year for sure.