AFLNT today released all 2017 CAFL fixtures for the upcoming season, starting Saturday 8 April.
This year, being the 70th anniversary of the CAFL comes at an opportune time for fans to enjoy more footy action, with 20 rounds scheduled in the Premier League fixture, up from 15 rounds last year. As a result, clubs will play three more games of football this season.
Each club will play six games on TIO Traeger Park, two on Jim McConville Oval and the remaining seven on Albrecht Oval.
Round 5 will see the grand final Premier League replay between Federal and Pioneers at Albrecht Oval.
The same finals format will remain in the Premier League with a top-four, three-round finals series commencing on Saturday 9 September and the 2017 grand finals being played Saturday 23 September.
This year also welcomes the Wests Football Club into the women's division (CAWFL), which kicks off on Friday 5 May.
The women will play 12 rounds, with a break during school holidays.
The CAWFL will adopt rules from the NAB AFL Women's competition, namely the 16-a-side format and timings.
The four CAWFL clubs this year are: Alkamilya, Pioneer E-Girls, Rovers Central and Wests and they will compete to take part in the three-round final series, which will be in-line with the men's CAFL format.
CAFL General Manager Simon Hargrave said a lot of hard work had gone into ensuring the 70th year would be a special one for footy fans in Central Australia.
"We are pleased to release the fixtures for all three main competitions.
"We spent a good amount of time consulting the clubs on what they would like to see and AFLNT has listened and is pleased that all requests, including an increase from 2016s 15 round season (12 games) to a 20 round fixture (15 games), have been accommodated."
Hargrave also spoke about the update to the country league and his excitement at having Papunya back in the competition.
"In the Country League we welcome Papunya back into the competition in both the seniors and Under 18s divisions, while we also take three rounds out to community, including Yuendumu, Ti Tree and Papunya.
"Being our 70th Anniversary this year we really want to promote the history of the Central Australia Football League.
"We've moved our Minahan Medal night to the Saturday night of Preliminary Final weekend (16 September) so that it can be a joint celebration of the 70th anniversary and the crowning of the 2017 Minahan Medallist," Hargraves said.
THEMED ROUNDS:
Round 6 Foster Webb Shield - South v Pioneer 3pm Saturday 20 May at Albrecht Oval
Round 7 Tony Cusack Shield - South v Federal 3pm Sunday 28 May at Albrecht Oval *The day after Toyota AFL Round 10 game between Melbourne and Gold Coast*
Round 8 Josh Palmer Shield - South v Rovers 3pm Saturday 3 June at TIO Traeger Park
Round 20 Heritage Round - Pioneer v Federals 3pm Saturday 2 September at Albrecht Oval
2017 GRAND FINAL DATES:
CAFL and CAWFL - Saturday 23 September
Country League Community Cup - Sunday 24 September
Please download the fixtures from here: - 2017 CAFL Fixture, 2017 CAWFL Fixture and 2017 Country League & Community Cup Fixture