Hawthorn will kick-off the tournament in Round 1, taking on Richmond and North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Friday 17 February.
Hawthorn heads to its home-away-from-home in Tasmania to battle the GWS Giants for the first time at Aurora Stadium on Saturday 3 March, while Round 3 will see the Hawks take on Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday 10 March.
As part of the new-look competition, the Regional Challenge disappears and the matches over the following fortnight - to be staged at both regular AFL venues and select regional centres, will also count in the pre-season cup standings.
Unlike the opening round-robin matches, again to be played over two 20-minute halves, all matches in the second and third rounds will be full-scale, four-quarter affairs.
All first round pre-season cup matches will be televised exclusively live by Fox Sports.
View the full 2012 pre-season cup fixture or download the fixture (.pdf)
