A FRIDAY evening at home to kick the season off. 

Carlton’s opponents for the 2022 VFL season have been confirmed, including the time and date for their opening clash of the campaign. 

The 22-round, 18-game season will begin for the Carlton Reserves on Friday 25 March, when they host the Brisbane Lions at IKON Park.

Kicking off at 5:05pm, it will take place on the opening night of the season: half an hour after the season opener between Footscray and Sydney. The home-and-away kicks off in line with Round 2 of the AFL season.

In a competition first, every match of the VFL season will be live-streamed and available on demand via the AFL website, with a weekly game to be shown on the Seven Network. 

Dates and times for the ensuing rounds will be disclosed in the coming weeks, with AFL State League Competitions Manager Jennie Loughlan forecasting the schedule for Rounds 2-8 will be confirmed “as soon as possible”.

Of course, 2022 will look to be the first time that a VFL premier is crowned since 2019, after the season was cancelled in 2020 and then abruptly ended last year. 

From a Carlton perspective, the Blues will play home games against Richmond (Round 4) and Collingwood (Round 22) across their nine home games. 

Byes will come in Rounds 8, 11, 15 and 20, with an interstate trip against Gold Coast in Round 3. 

The first chance to see the VFL Blues in action will come on Thursday, when they take on Sandringham after the preceding AFL practice match between Carlton and St Kilda. The first bounce will come at 1pm.

The VFL Blues have added former AFL-listed talent Ned Cahill and Jesse Glass-McCasker for the 2022 season, while retaining the likes of best-and-fairest Ben Crocker and utility Toby Wooller following the inaugural campaign as a standalone VFL club.