The 2011

NAB Cup In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules foot ...

was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2011 season. The games were played between 11 February and 11 March. The first match was between and in Adelaide at

AAMI Stadium Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australi ...

. This was the first time since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

that the competition format had changed. With the introduction of the

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since t ...

and

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents th ...

(the latter required to make the competition feature a manageable 18 teams), the format for the 2011 NAB Cup was as follows: *Weeks 1 and 2: ''The eighteen teams are split into six pools of three teams each. The three teams in each pool play each other in games of two 20-minute halves, with all three games being played over a three-hour period at the one venue.'' *Week 3: ''The first ranked teams from each pool progress to the quarter-finals, with the two next best ranked teams joining them, allowing an eight team quarter-finals weekend.'' *Week 4: ''The winners from the quarter-finals progress to the semi-finals.'' *Week 5: ''The two winners of the semi-finals progress to the NAB Cup Grand Final.''

Games

The first round fixtures were announced by the AFL on 26 October 2010.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Grand Final

NAB Challenge

On 16 December 2010, the AFL announced the towns that will play host to the NAB Challenge competition. In week 1, the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

suburb of

Thebarton Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore ...

hosted an AFL pre-season game for the first time at

Thebarton Oval Thebarton Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens between 19 ...

where

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

team

Woodville-West Torrens Woodville-West Torrens Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). It was formed in 1990 from an amalgamation of the neighbouring Woodville and West Torrens football cl ...

plays.

Traeger Park Traeger Park (currently known under naming rights as TIO Traeger Park) is a sports complex located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, and is named after Alfred Hermann Traeger. The park was officially opened by Anne Catherine Sm ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

Manuka Oval Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating capacity of 13,550 people and an overall capacity of 16,000 people, althou ...

Visy Park Princes Park (or Carlton Recreation Ground, currently known by its sponsored name Ikon Park) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the wider Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. It is a historic venue ...

and Skilled Stadium also hosted matches. Week 2 saw matches played at Lavington for the first time since 2006 as well as games at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, Bunbury,

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Sheppart ...

and

. In the final week of the competition, matches were played at

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggir ...

, North Ballarat,

, Willaston near Gawler (SA),

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

Aurora Stadium York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 19,000 people – the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania, York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania Stadium and was formerly ...

and

.
Report

References

{{2011 AFL season

Australian Football League pre-season competition