THE AFL released the 2022 NAB League fixture last week, with Round 1 set to kick off on April 2. Fans, recruiters and players alike will be treated to a bumper opening weekend, which sees the mainstay Victorian regions joined by all four Northern Academies to fill out an eight-game set of fixtures.
Across the 13-round regular season, 18 teams will compete in the nation’s most elite Under 18 talent pathway, with the 12 Victorian regions and Tasmania joined by the Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns, Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants and Sydney Swans academies for the first four weeks, while the Northern Territory will come in for Rounds 3-5.
As has been the case since 2018, the NAB League finals will be prefaced by a Wildcard Round in 2022. The top three ranked sides will earn a bye, leaving the remaining 10 clubs to battle in out and fill the remaining top eight spots. A three-week knockout style finals series will follow, starting on the weekend of September 3, with the Grand Final booked in for Saturday September 17.
Round 1 is set to be opened by the Calder Cannons for a second year running, as they host the Giants Academy in the first game of a double-header at Highgate Recreation Reserve. The Northern Knights and Swans Academy then face-off, with another Craigieburn double-header seeing Western and Geelong respectively take on the Lions and Suns academies on Sunday.
The Sandringham Dragons and Oakleigh Chargers rivalry is also set to resume as they again go head-to-head in Round 1, with either region featuring some of the state’s best metropolitan-based talent. Last year, Nick Daicos made his NAB League debut in the same fixture and dominated with 28 disposals and three goals in a loss. 16 other AFL draftees were also afield that day.
Oakleigh remains the reigning premier after its 2019 triumph, after the 2020 season was scrapped and 2021 cut short in a pandemic-affected environment. Despite that, and the lack of an Under 18 National Championship, over 50 per cent of last years draftees were taken from the NAB League.
The Round 1 fixture can be found below, click here the full allotment of 2022 games via PlayHQ.
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