CARLTON and St Kilda will kick off a revised AAMI Community Series fixture that features less travel and more games at AFL premiership season venues.
The Blues and the Saints will face off on Thursday, March 4 at Marvel Stadium in the first of three games in five days at the Docklands venue.
Collingwood and Richmond also play at Marvel on the following Friday night while the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne close out the series on Monday, March 8.
>> See below for the full 2021 AAMI Community Series fixture
Games will also be played in Launceston (Hawthorn v North Melbourne), Fremantle (Fremantle v Adelaide), Sydney (Sydney v Gold Coast), Canberra (GWS v Brisbane) and Perth (West Coast v Port Adelaide).
The AFL's executive general manager of clubs and broadcasting, Travis Auld, said the updated fixture aimed to protect the health and safety of the competition and the community by reducing travel ahead of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
Auld thanked the regional communities that had originally been scheduled to host pre-season games for their understanding. The regions of Albury (NSW), Coffs Harbour (NSW), Morwell (VIC), Noarlunga (SA), North Hobart (TAS), Mandurah (WA) and Whyalla (SA) will no longer host AAMI Community Series games this year.
"Each of those regions play an extremely important role in our game and the decision to revise the AAMI Community Series was made to protect the health and safety of the competition and the wider community which remains the priority for the league," he said.
"It is communities like these that are the heartbeat of Australian Football and we hope to be able to return to each of those areas and play games there in the future.
"While we share the disappointment of these regions, we also look forward to more fans being able to safely attend AAMI Community Series matches, particularly in states where supporters have not been able to attend a men's game in over a year."
2021 AAMI Community Series Fixture
Thursday, March 4
Carlton v St Kilda, Marvel Stadium, 7.10pm AEDT
Friday, March 5
Collingwood v Richmond, Marvel Stadium, 7.10pm AEDT
Saturday, March 6
Hawthorn v North Melbourne, University of Tasmania Stadium, 1.10pm AEDT
Fremantle v Adelaide, Fremantle Oval, 1.10pm AWST
Geelong v Essendon, GMHBA Stadium, 7.10pm AEDT
Sunday, March 7
Sydney v Gold Coast, Giants Stadium, 1.10pm AEDT
Greater Western Sydney v Brisbane, Manuka Oval 4.10pm AEDT
West Coast v Port Adelaide, Leederville Oval, 4.10pm AWST
Monday, March 8
Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Marvel Stadium, 3.10pm AEDT
All 2021 AAMI Community Series matches will be broadcast live on FOX FOOTY, Kayo and through the Official AFL LIVE App, thanks to Telstra.