Essendon has been rewarded for its rise up the AFL ladder and on field performance with a return to the big stage in 2018.

Following the release of the AFL fixture today, the Bombers feature in a number of marquee matches in prime time slots, including one Thursday night, four Friday night and four Saturday night games across the season.

The Bombers will play blockbuster home games at the MCG against traditional Victorian rivals Hawthorn, Richmond (Dreamtime at the ‘G) Geelong (Country Game) and Collingwood.

Etihad Stadium will host seven home games against Melbourne, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and Sydney.

Essendon CEO, Xavier Campbell, said the club was pleased with the 2018 fixture overall.

“It’s pretty exciting. I think the AFL has certainly rewarded us for our exciting brand of football and on-field performance,” Campbell said.

“That is something that we’d hope would come, once we started playing attractive football and the fans really start to come out and see it, for us that’s really exciting.”

“It’s great to be back on prime-time football, in particular on Friday nights.

“I think commercially it’s great to be back in the prime-time, when it comes to generating eyeballs, really strong attendance, prime time football, Friday night football in particular is a platform we want to be playing on and that is something we have made known publicly on many occasions.

“For our commercial team, they will be pretty excited about that, in front of the fans, particularly those in Melbourne that will be able to come to Friday night games at Etihad.”

Essendon will play six matches on a Sunday, including three of which will be home games.

“As much as you love playing prime-time football (Friday and Saturday night), I think having a balance in your fixture is really important and to still have a good number of Sunday afternoon games, I know our fans will really appreciate that balance as well,” Campbell said.

“It is a really family friendly time on a Sunday, a time that we really like playing in.”

Essendon will kick off the Season, on March 23, with a home game against the Adelaide Crows at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

“They were clearly a very good side in 2017 and really pushed us both times we played them. They play an exciting brand of football. Etihad stadium on a Friday night, I think an absolute sell out is on the cards there and a match up we are really looking forward to,” Campbell said.

Campbell said the Club was disappointed the AFL was unable to fixture an additional home game at the MCG.

“We are certainly pushing to try and find an additional game at the MCG. Certainly for us, having a greater presence from a home game perspective, it would be something we would like to explore and we have made that known to the AFL,” Campbell said.

Essendon will play Richmond, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Fremantle twice in 2018. Richmond is the only side the Bombers play twice from the top six this season.

The team will travel six times interstate. Twelve of the Bombers games will be live on free-to-air TV.

Round one

Essendon v Adelaide

Friday 23 March

Etihad 7:50pm

Round 2

Fremantle v Essendon

Saturday 31 March

Perth Stadium 4:40pm

Round 3

Western Bulldogs v Essendon

Sunday 8 April

Etihad Stadium 3:20pm

Round 4

Essendon v Port Adelaide

Sunday 15 April

Etihad Stadium 1:10pm

Round 5

Collingwood v Essendon

Wednesday 25 April

MCG 3:20pm

Round 6

Essendon v Melbourne

Sunday 29 April

Etihad 1:10pm

Round 7

Essendon v Hawthorn

Saturday 5 May

MCG 2:10pm

Round 8

Carlton v Essendon

Saturday 12 May

MCG 2:10pm

Round 9

Essendon v Geelong

Saturday 19 May

MCG 4:35pm

Round 10

GWS v Essendon

Saturday 26 May

Spotless Stadium 7:25pm

Round 11

Essendon v Richmond

Saturday 2 June

MCG 7:25pm

Round 12

Brisbane v Essendon

Sunday 10 June

The Gabba 1:10pm



Round 13

Bye

Round 14

West Coast Eagles v Essendon

Thursday 21 June

Perth Stadium, 6:10pm



Round 15

Essendon v North Melbourne

Sunday 1 July

Etihad Stadium, 3.20pm



Round 16

Essendon v Collingwood

Sunday 8 July

MCG, 3.20pm



Round 17

Gold Coast SUNS v Essendon

Saturday 14 July

Metricon Stadium, 7:25pm



Round 18

Essendon v Fremantle

Saturday 21 July

Etihad Stadium, 4:35pm



Round 19

Essendon v Sydney

Friday 27 July

Etihad Stadium, 7:50pm

Round 20

Hawthorn v Essendon

Saturday 4 August

MCG, 1:45pm

Round 21

Essendon v St Kilda

Friday 10 August

Etihad Stadium, 7:50pm

Round 22

Richmond v Essendon

Friday 17 August

MCG, 7:50pm

Round 23

Port Adelaide v Essendon

Adelaide Oval

(Date and time to be confirmed by the AFL in the weeks leading up to the match)