Northern Exposure – AFL spotlight turns to Darwin and Cairns
- Monday, June 30 2014 @ 10:25 am ACST
- Contributed by: Wesley Hull
- Views: 2,744


The eyes of the AFL supporting world will be firmly fixed on two northern Australian cities – Darwin and Cairns – in coming weeks as the highest level of the game continues to reach out to audiences across Australia. Fans will be flocking into TIO Stadium in Darwin and Cazalys Stadium in Cairns as the Melbourne Demons, Fremantle Dockers, Gold Coast Suns and Western Bulldogs pack their bags and head north.
Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, will host its one and only premiership match for the season. With a capacity of 14,000, TIO Stadium is sure to have a huge crowd on deck for the game.
A few weeks back the Melbourne Demons hosted the Port Adelaide Power at TIO Traeger Park in Alice Springs (the same venue hosted an NAB Challenge between the Demons and the Geelong Cats in the pre-season). This time it is the relaxed, tropical city of Darwin that gets its chance to shine.
On Saturday 5th July, the Paul Roos coached Demons host last year’s grand finalists, the frugal Ross Lyon coached Fremantle Dockers. For Melbourne the game will be another step in their evolution under Roos from perennial cellar-dwellers into a defence minded team capable of upsetting better placed teams.
LEFT: Darwin's TIO Stadium