AFL Fixture 2025: All the reaction and every Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide game

Matthew Nicks and the Crows will be desperate for a fast start in 2025 – and the new fixture will help. But Port Adelaide’s draw isn’t as kind. Here’s what it means for both clubs.

• Full AFL fixture reveal

Adelaide and Matthew Nicks’ desperation for a strong start to next season has been helped with a kind early draw.

The Crows launch their campaign against four of this year’s non-finalists and play six of their first nine games at Adelaide Oval.

Nicks and his side will be itching to begin well after a 0-4 opening last season set them on a path to a disappointing 15th-placed finish.

Adelaide is intent on making the finals for the first time since 2017, in a season sixth-year coach Nicks probably needs to reach September to keep his job.

The Crows’ first four games are: St Kilda at home (finished 12th), Essendon at the MCG (11th), North Melbourne at home (second-bottom) and Gold Coast away (13th).

Port Adelaide also begins its season by facing four non-finalists, but has lost its billing as a Friday and Saturday night drawcard while being handed more off Broadway games.

Izak Rankine and Brodie Smith celebrate in a Showdown last season. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

The Power has a Dan Houston reunion to open its campaign, taking on Collingwood at the MCG in round 1, then hosts 2024 wooden-spooner Richmond, plays Essendon away and the Saints at home.

But the most striking part of the club’s draw for the first 15 rounds was it had only received two home night games - Hawthorn in Gather Round on Sunday, April 13 and a Showdown on Saturday, May 10 - despite reaching a preliminary final.

The Power had six night games at Adelaide Oval during the opening 15 rounds this year.

Port chief executive Matthew Richardson said the club was a little disappointed not to feature more at home on Friday or Saturday nights.

But the Power saw the upside in having plenty of family-friendly weekend timeslots.

“We would’ve liked a Friday night and Saturday night but on the flip side the Saturday twilights will work well for us,” Richardson said.

“For our members Saturday night is number one then Saturday twilight.”

Zak Butters in action down in Tasmania against the Kangaroos. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Another curious part of Port’s fixture is it has three trips to boutique venues – Ballarat in round 8, Canberra in round 13 and Launceston in round 19 – an amount typically reserved for teams that missed the top eight.

Its double-up games are tricky on paper: Adelaide, Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney.

The Crows twice play cellar-dwellers North Melbourne and West Coast, in another potential boost to the club’s finals prospects.

Adelaide faces a possibly season-defining 10-match run before its round 15 bye that includes Geelong to open Gather Round, GWS at home, Fremantle in Perth, Carlton at Adelaide Oval, a Showdown, Collingwood at the MCG, Sydney at the SCG, Brisbane in a home Friday night clash and Hawthorn in Launceston.

A highlight of the Crows’ fixture is playing three minor-round games at the MCG for the first time since 2017: Essendon in round 2, the Magpies in round 10 and Richmond in round 16.

Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers said playing four times at home in the first six weeks was a great result.

“We are also really pleased to have received some prominent timeslots and national free-to-air television exposure,” Silvers said.

“To once again open Gather Round is important.

“Likewise hosting the SA Freeze against Brisbane in June gives us the chance to really build on what we did this year and possibly make it a tradition.