While the NFL senior fixtures won’t be released until December 13, the league can confirm that last season’s grand finalists will meet at Bill Lawry Oval on April 12 in a stand-alone match.
The remainder of the senior competition will commence the following day on Saturday, April 13.
The season opener will commence under lights at 7:00pm, with Northcote Park to unfurl its 2012 premiership flag prior to the first bounce.
NFL football operations manager Ron McKeown said the Division 1 Grand Final rematch was the ideal way to kick off the new season.
“The build up to the game will be immense and playing it as a stand-alone night match will only create more hype and allow for more of the NFL community to attend the game,” he said.
“There is no better way to kick-off the season than to have the two previous grand finalists meet and by playing the game on Friday night we will be showcasing the best talent the NFL has to offer to a wider audience.”
In an added boost for the season opener, the match will potentially be Brad Miller’s debut for Heidelberg after joining the Tigers in the off-season.
Miller played 157 AFL games and booted 120 goals for Melbourne and Richmond between 2002 and 2012.
The reserves match will be played the following day at the usual time of 11:55am, with the under-19s to start at the later time of 2:10pm.
Northcote Park also kicked-off its 2012 season under lights at Bill Lawry Oval, when it defeated Whittlesea by 20 points in Round 1.
It began a dream season for the Cougars as they went on to claim their eighth senior premiership, and sixth in the first division.
After finishing the home and away season in fourth place, Northcote Park won four consecutive finals – including a 45-point win over Heidelberg in the Grand Final – to claim its first flag since 2002.
It capped off a remarkable year for the NFL top flight, which experienced the closest season of any Division 1 competition in the metropolitan area.
With an average winning margin of just 32.7 points, the NFL’s Division 1 ranked first for competitiveness ahead of the Eastern Football League (34.8 points) and the VAFA (36.2), and was well ahead of the other five metro leagues, including Mornington Peninsula.
