NORTH Melbourne's deal to play two home games a season in WA from 2025 has the potential to open a large block at home for Fremantle and West Coast and break up the clubs' heavy travel loads, according to Dockers chief executive Simon Garlick.
The Kangaroos will play a pair of home games in WA each season for the next three years, hosting West Coast at Bunbury's Hands Oval in round 13 next season and Fremantle at Optus Stadium the following week.
The Dockers and Eagles' schedules will likely incorporate home games either side of their North Melbourne clashes as well as a mid-season bye, potentially giving the heavily travelled teams a month-long break from the road at the halfway point of the year.
Garlick declared the North Melbourne deal would go some way to addressing travel equity issues the WA clubs have lobbied for while also sending a "nod of recognition" to WA as a football state.
"Just the fact that we've now got 13 games with your away Derby in the state makes a difference," Garlick said on Wednesday.
"You've got Victorian teams who in reality have got 16-17 games in their home state, and for us that's a hard concept to comprehend.
"To have another game is another step and it will clearly open up some opportunity to have any block (at home) depending on where this lands in the fixture.
"There is a significant disparity from a travel perspective ... we think this goes in part to assisting that process."
Fremantle will host Essendon in a Thursday night clash following its 'away' game against North Melbourne, with the first 16 rounds of the fixture to be confirmed on Thursday.
West Coast chief executive Don Pyke said the Eagles were excited to play in North Melbourne's first game at Hands Oval, which will receive $5.7m in government funding to provide permanent and temporary infrastructure.
There have already been $19.5m in funds committed to improvements at the ground to bring it up to AFL standard, with further improvements planned to lighting, broadcast facilities, corporate hospitality and seating.
The state government is targeting 1,000 interstate visitors as part of the deal, encouraging fans to utilise direct flights from Melbourne to WA's south-west region.
"I was down there yesterday and had a look at the new stand, which is just finishing, and the locals are pumped about the opportunity and really excited to see how many we can fit in there," Pyke said.
"The challenge is not going to be filling it up, it's going to be how many we can fit inside."
North Melbourne explored several options as part of its Tasmania exit strategy, even looking overseas until Western Australia emerged as the best financial model for the club.
Chief executive Jen Watt said the club, which will aim to fly in directly to WA's south-west, would not be required to travel back to the state for any away games in 2025 as part of the deal.
"That's a really terrific part of the overall travel environment for us," Watt said.
"You go from playing four games in another state to two games, and we get to reduce our overall travel and bring two games back to Melbourne as part of it.
"You can see why it's such a great option for us."
