NIGHT matches will be played across the opening five rounds of the 2014 Bendigo Bank Maryborough & Castlemaine District Football Netball League season.
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The season kicks off Saturday, April 12.
Navarre will unfurl its senior football and netball premiership flags against grand final opponents Lexton in round one.
A highlight of the opening round will be the Maryborough Derby between Rovers and Royal Park on April 13.
The night games in the opening five rounds will be at Carisbrook or Trentham.
The first night fixture at Trentham will be on Anzac Day.
New coaches Rick Andrews and Brian Kelly meet in the opening round when the Andrews-coached Talbot takes on the Kelly-led Maldon.
The MCDFNL will host the Geelong & District FNL in the Worksafe AFL Victoria Country Championships at Princes Park in Maryborough on Saturday, May 24.
The MCDFNL grand final day will be on Sunday, September 21 at Maryborough's Princes Park.
All clubs will have three scheduled breaks in the first three months of the season.
There will be no matches scheduled over the Easter long weekend, May 24-25, due to the Worksafe AFL Victoria Country Championships.
There will be no MCDFNL matches on Queen’s Birthday weekend in June.
The league has fixtured a split round in round 14 to give clubs a break in the lead-up to finals.
League operations manager Scott Carey said club feedback assisted in finalising the 2014 fixture.
"(The 2014) fixture has been a difficult task to put together, especially when we look to assist clubs as best as possible with their requests for the 2014 season”, Carey said.
“After receiving feedback on the initial draft, I think we have been able to cater for all clubs for next year.
“The league will now be able to further promote night matches, with the introduction of new lights down at Trentham in the early part of the year.”
"The Trentham committee have put in a lot of hard work over the off season and it will be a good reward for the club to draw some big crowds," Carey said.
“Sunday games will also continue in 2014 with clubs playing two each throughout the year."
Themed rounds will be added at a later date once all AFL Goldfields Leagues have finalised their draws to ensure all themes can be rolled out across all competitions.
Meanwhile, Trentham Football Netball Club will host the Trentham Cup on Saturday, March 15.
The Cup will be run as a “Lightning Premiership” style event across senior football and netball grades.
Matches for under-18 football and 17-under netball will be played.
MCDFNL draw - Page 26
