The VFL Magpies have never once played a curtain raiser before an AFL game involving their senior equivalent’s since they were reborn in 2008.
That could change next season, according to Football Operations Manager Marcus Wagner.
“We’re going to look to push for some curtain raisers with the AFL this year, so some of the big games at the MCG will hopefully have a Collingwood VFL game beforehand,” Wagner told CollingwoodTV.
Watch highlights from the Collingwood's 2014 VFL campaign as shown at the E.W. Copeland Trophy Dinner.
“I think it would be a fantastic addition, especially for our supporters.”
The VFL fixture is usually released in December, but Wagner says the Magpies have already sent its wish list to the state league.
“We like to marry up our VFL fixture as best we can with the AFL fixture,” he explained.
“We like to marry up our byes so they can have a communal break at the same time.
“Also, we like to marry up our games so, if the AFL’s playing Saturday night, our VFL squad is playing on Saturday. That way we can maintain continuity throughout the week with the playing group.
“Obviously we make our requests to the VFL like we do with the AFL and to a certain degree we’re in their hands, but usually our draws marry up pretty well, so again, we hope to give supporters a chance to both watch our VFL team – which will be really exciting with our young group – but also then get to the AFL game on the weekend.”
Wagner also outlined the structure of the AFL team’s fixture, and the way the football department will seek to tackle the various breaks between games, some of which are much shorter than others.
“There are six-day breaks, seven-day breaks and eight or more day breaks.
“The way we work is the last three days before a game are set in concrete and also the two days following a game, so depending on what the break is, whether it’s six, seven or eight (days), we plug the middle days into the schedule and revolve around that.
“Six-day breaks provide quite a logistical challenge to get the players back up again. We’ve got eight six-day breaks, which will be a challenge, but we manage our schedule pretty well through those six-day breaks.
“With the eight-day breaks, we get extra curricular stuff done, such as player appearances and clinics. Once we know where our eight-day breaks are, we can lock in our key extra curricular stuff as well.
“It’s really important to navigate those different breaks.”
