	{"id":179823,"date":"2026-02-09T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=179823"},"modified":"2026-02-09T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T17:00:00","slug":"afl-pre-season-games-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/armstrongcreektimes\/sport\/afl-pre-season-games-loom\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL pre-season games loom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TICKETS to this year&#8217;s AAMI Community Series have gone on sale, with all 18 clubs to participate in the pre-season competition.<\/p>\n<p>Matches will be played at regional and suburban venues across the country, including Geelong&#8217;s game against Carlton at Ikon Park in Carlton North on February 25.<\/p>\n<p>Club members, AFL members and children aged 14 and under will have free general admission access for another year thanks to the partnership with AAMI.<\/p>\n<p>These arrangements will extend across all Community Series matches, except for matches at Mars Stadium, which will be fully ticketed.<\/p>\n<p>Competing club and AFL members can scan their 2026 membership on match day at the venue (except at Mars Stadium) for free general admission access, subject to capacity.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, competing club and AFL members can guarantee entry by registering for a general admission ticket or upgrading to a reserved seat via the relevant ticket agent using their 2026 membership barcode.<\/p>\n<p>General admission for non-members is $20 for adults, while reserved seating will be $30 for adults and $10 for children at venues with applicable seating options.<\/p>\n<p>While general admission access for children aged 14 and under is free, they must redeem a ticket in advance of the match. Any child without a pre-redeemed ticket will not be permitted access to the match.<\/p>\n<p>All three Mars Stadium matches &#8211; Melbourne vs Richmond, St Kilda vs Essendon and North Melbourne vs Collingwood &#8211; will be fully ticketed to manage capacity while redevelopment works continue at the venue.<\/p>\n<p>Competing club and AFL members must upgrade to a reserved seat to attend matches at Mars Stadium, while all juniors can redeem a free ticket with a paying adult.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Community Series matches will be played under the following format:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Four quarters of 20 minutes each, plus time on (as per regular AFL games)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A squad of 30 players &#8211; 18 on field, eight interchange and four emergencies<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A minimum of four players on the interchange bench during the match at any time<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 No interchange cap, and<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A full panel of\u202fumpires appointed\u202fby the AFL\u200b.<\/p>\n<p>Matches will be broadcast live on Foxtel and Kayo Sports. Tickets are available now via Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TICKETS to this year&#8217;s AAMI Community Series have gone on sale, with all 18 clubs to participate in the pre-season competition. Matches will be played at regional and suburban venues across the country, including Geelong&#8217;s game against Carlton at Ikon Park in Carlton North on February 25. Club members, AFL members and children aged 14 [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/armstrongcreektimes\/sport\/afl-pre-season-games-loom\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":179824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-179823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AFL pre-season games loom - Armstrong Creek Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AFL pre-season games are approaching with AAMI Community Series tickets on sale, free entry for members and kids at most venues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/armstrongcreektimes\/sport\/afl-pre-season-games-loom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AFL pre-season games loom - 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