Fremantle and West Coast are set for an historic Western Derby clash at Optus Stadium in round two of the 2020 AFLW season.
In what is sure to be one of the highlights of the new season, expansion team, the Eagles, will take on the established Dockers for the first time on Saturday, February 15 in what is likely to be a bumper crowd.
The match up was set up when both Fremantle and West Coast were drawn in Conference B.
Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, Carlton, Collingwood and St Kilda are the other Conference B teams.
Reining premiers Adelaide, North Melbourne, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Richmond make up Conference A.
West Coast, where Team Emageo’s Michelle Cowan is an assistant coach, will play its first game on the road against Collingwood, with their home games spread between Leederville, Optus Stadium and Mineral Resources Park.
“We have a brand new team of 30 players, many who have never played together, so games in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia are exciting steps in the squad understanding what it takes to excel in a national competition,” general manager of community and game development Richard O’Connell said.
The Dockers and reining best and fairest Kiara Bowers open their new season at Fremantle Oval against Geelong.
Fremantle AFLW manager Darryn Fry said they were delighted to have four games at Fremantle Oval and were also looking forward to the first match against their cross-town rivals.
“To be able to be the best, you have to beat the best teams in the competition. We saw the evenness of the competition in 2019, with many games feeling like a ‘mini-final’ so we look forward to each contest knowing that every game will present a challenge,” Fry said.
“We can’t wait to get started with our pre-season and really excited that we’re now ready to go for season 2020.”
The top three sides in each conference will qualify for finals, with the teams who finished first in each pool given a bye in the first week of finals.
The fixture release came after the AFLW players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday.
See the full fixtures below.
West Coast 2020 Fixture
ROUND ONE
Collingwood v West Coast
Victoria Park
Sunday, 9 February at 1.10pm
ROUND TWO
West Coast v Fremantle
Optus Stadium
Saturday, 15 February at 4.10pm
ROUND THREE
Greater Western Sydney v West Coast
Blacktown International Sports Park
Sunday, 23 February at 1.40pm
ROUND FOUR
West Coast v Western Bulldogs
Leederville Oval
Saturday, 29 February at 4.10pm
ROUND FIVE
Melbourne v West Coast
Casey Fields
Sunday, 8 March at 3.10pm
ROUND SIX
West Coast v Gold Coast
Mineral Resources Park
Sunday, 15 March at 2.10pm
ROUND SEVEN
Carlton v West Coast
Saturday, 21 March at 1.10pm
ROUND EIGHT
West Coast v St Kilda
Mineral Resources Park
Sunday, 29 March at 3.10pm
Fremantle 2020 Fixture
ROUND ONE
Fremantle v Geelong
Fremantle Oval
Sunday, 9 February at 2.10pm
ROUND TWO
West Coast v Fremantle
Optus Stadium
Saturday, 15 February at 4.10pm
ROUND THREE
Fremantle v Collingwood
Fremantle Oval
Saturday, 22 February at 4.10pm
ROUND FOUR
St Kilda v Fremantle
RSEA Park
Sunday, 1 March at 3.10pm
ROUND FIVE
Fremantle v Brisbane
Fremantle Oval
Sunday, 8 March at 2.10pm
ROUND SIX
Western Bulldogs v Fremantle
VU Whitten Oval
Sunday, 15 March at 1.10pm
ROUND SEVEN
Fremantle v Melbourne
Fremantle Oval
Sunday, 22 March at 4.10pm
ROUND EIGHT
Fremantle v Carlton
Marvel Stadium
Saturday, 28 March at 1.10pm