Division 3 will kick off the Northern Football League season next year, starting a week before the other two divisions.
Action gets under way on April 1, with Mernda playing Heidelberg West, Laurimar making its senior debut against Kilmore and Epping travelling to St Marys.
South Morang starts the season with a bye, before playing Epping in round two.
In division 1, where the opening round is played across three days, Northcote Park and West Preston-Lakeside will start the season under lights on April 7.
Three matches will be played the next day, including Bundoora taking on Heidelberg and Whittlesea facing Montmorency.
Greensborough hosts Eltham in a standalone match the following weekend, on Good Friday.
Bundoora faces Whittlesea in round two and then again in round 17.
Division 2 returns to an eight-team division, with this year’s division 3 premiers Watsonia promoted in the off season.
Lalor and Thomastown face off in the first round, both sides looking for an improvement on last season when they struggled. The two Whittlesea-based teams play each other three times in 2017, also facing off in rounds six and 12. The stand-out match in round one will likely involve the debut of AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey for North Heidelberg against Diamond Creek.
The three grand finals will be held across consecutive Saturdays, starting September 9. All sides will get a bye on May 13 when the NFL faces the Western Region Football League in the WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships, and no matches have been scheduled for the Queen’s Birthday weekend.
