The return of the curtain raiser, Easter Saturday twilight footy and night football against two of the stand-alone AFL superpowers are just some of the highlights of the 2014 VFL fixture.

The 20 round VFL home and away season fixture was released earlier today and sees the Bendigo Bank VFL Cats start the 2014 season the same way they finished off the 2013 home and away season - with a trip to play Bendigo Gold under lights at the Queen Elizabeth Oval on Friday 4th of April.

The ‘Gold’ will be out to start their season on a high and show the football world how much they have improved after losing to the Cats by 201 points on that infamous August night.

After no curtain raisers at Simonds Stadium in 2013, the Cats will play the Footscray Bulldogs on the 6th of July before the AFL Round 16 Geelong Cats Vs Western Bulldogs match at Simonds Stadium. It promises to be a fantastic occasion for the supporters of both sides who will once again get to witness a game day event that was for so many years considered to be just a standard practice.

After two very successful night matches in 2013, the VFL Cats will light up Simonds Stadium on 3 occasions in 2014. The first of these games will be the ‘VFL Grand Final Replay’ against the Box Hill Hawks on Easter Saturday night at the family friendly time of 6.00pm.

The other two night matches at Simonds Stadium will take place against AFL second tier sides Richmond (VFL Round 14) and Essendon (VFL Round 20).

The highlight of the ‘away’ fixtures will be the Round 5 match against Richmond where the VFL Cats will play Richmond’s stand alone VFL side at Punt Road Oval before the Geelong Vs Richmond AFL Round 7 match at the MCG. A massive crowd is expected to flock to the traditional home of the Tigers for the first match between the two AFL second tier sides since 2000.

All up the VFL Cats play 2 games on a Friday, 9 on a Saturday and 7 on a Sunday across 8 different time slots and travel to Bendigo, Cranbourne, Richmond, Williamstown, Abbotsford, Coburg, Parkville, Sandringham and Ballarat.

The Cats play Collingwood, Richmond and the North Ballarat Roosters on 2 occasions and every other VFL side once.

Bendigo Bank Cats – 2014 Season Fixture

Round 1 – Friday 4th April – 7.00pm
Vs Bendigo Gold @ Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo

Round 2 – Sunday 13th April – 2.00pm
Vs Casey Scorpions @ Casey Fields, Cranbourne  

Round 3 – Saturday 19th April – 6.00pm
Vs Box Hill Hawks @ Simonds Stadium

Round 4 – Sunday 27th April – 12.00pm
Vs North Ballarat Roosters @ Simonds Stadium

Round 5 – Sunday 4th May – 11.30am
Vs Richmond @ Punt Road Oval , Richmond

Round 6 – BYE

Round 7 – Saturday 17th May – 2.00pm
Vs Williamstown @ Burbank Oval, Williamstown

Round 8 – Saturday 24th May – 12.00pm
Vs Collingwood @ Victoria Park, Abbotsford

VFL State Representative Match – Saturday 1st June
Victoria (VFL) Vs South Australia (SANFL)

VFL Round 9 – Saturday 7th June – 1.00pm
Vs Port Melbourne @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 10 – Saturday 14th June – 2.00pm
Vs Coburg Lions @ Coburg City Oval, Coburg

VFL Round 11 – Saturday 21st June – 12.00pm
Vs Werribee Tigers @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 12 – Sunday 29th June – 1.00pm
Vs Northern Blues @ Visy Park, Parkville

VFL Round 13 – Sunday 6th July – 12.40pm (AFL CR)
Vs Western Bulldogs @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 14 – Saturday 12th July – 7.30pm
Vs Richmond @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 15 – Sunday 20th July – 2.00pm
Vs Sandringham Zebras @ Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham

VFL Round 16 – BYE

VFL Round 17 – Saturday 2nd August – 12.00pm
Vs Frankston Dolphins @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 18 – Sunday 10th August – 2.00pm
Vs North Ballarat Roosters @ Eureka Stadium, Ballarat

VFL Round 19 – Saturday 16th August – 11.00am
Vs Collingwood @ Simonds Stadium

VFL Round 20 – Friday 22nd August – 7.30pm
Vs Essendon @ Simonds Stadium