The Vodafone Brisbane Lions have been scheduled to face St Kilda under lights at Gold Coast Stadium on Saturday 14 February next year in the opening round of the 2009 NAB Cup pre-season competition.
It will be the first time the Lions and Saints have met in a competitive hit-out on the Gold Coast and is the Club's only scheduled appearance at the ground for 2009.
AFL Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan said the NAB Cup competition will open the AFL season on Saturday February 7 in South Africa with the Grand Final to be played on Saturday March 14.
Mr McLachlan said the AFL fixtured the opening round of the NAB Cup over a three-week period for the first time in the history of the competition so as to enable a greater number of prime television slots for the broadcast of matches, as well as being able to avoid day-time heat wherever possible in the late summer months.
Further, the AFL aimed for the opening round of the NAB Cup to feature, as much as possible, match-ups between teams that do not play each other twice during the 2009 premiership season.
If the Lions advance through to the second round, they will face the winner of the Western Bulldogs and Essendon at Melbourne's Telstra Dome.
The venue for the 2009 NAB Cup Grand Final will be at the discretion of the AFL, to maximise the match attendance and the viewing audience, and will no longer be automatically determined by the previous rule whereby the team that kicked the most goals hosted the match.
Click here to view the full 2009 NAB Cup fixture.
