THE RECONSTITUTED Essendon will kick off the rebadged AFL pre-season competition with a Thursday night Etihad Stadium clash with Collingwood on February 16.

And further life has been breathed into summer football with great modern rivals Hawthorn hosting Geelong in Launceston at what is now called University of Tasmania Stadium the following evening.

With the JLT Community Series, the AFL has stuck with the three-games-over-four-weeks format for every club and at venues right around the country, but there will be a change in scheduling in 2017, with Etihad Stadium hosting four matches over the opening three weeks and none in the final week while it reverts back to concert mode.

A feature of this year's schedule is the number of matches scheduled for suburban Melbourne venues.

As revealed exclusively on AFL.com.au on November 12, Arden Street will host its first official League game since 1985 when North Melbourne meets Hawthorn on Sunday, February 26. The Western Bulldogs will host Melbourne the week before at Whitten Oval, while Carlton and St Kilda will play at Ikon Park (Princes Park) on Saturday, March 4.

Some of the more exotic locations for JLT Community Series games include a Greater Western Sydney-West Coast clash at Narrendera in southwest New South Wales, a Sydney-North Melbourne clash at Coffs Harbour, a West Coast-Fremantle match at Wonthella in suburban Geraldton and Port Adelaide-Richmond match in Mount Gambier.

Mackay gets another opportunity to host a game after last year's washout when Gold Coast meets Essendon, while another SANFL venue comes on stream over the final weekend when South Adelaide's home ground at Noarlunga hosts matches on consecutive days – Adelaide-Brisbane Lions on the Saturday and Port Adelaide-Hawthorn the following afternoon.

Another feature on Sunday, March 12, the final day of the pre-season, is Geelong-Essendon at Bendigo's storied Queen Elizabeth Oval, giving Cats skipper Joel Selwood the opportunity to play in his home town.

Metricon Stadium, Domain Stadium and Manuka Oval are existing AFL venues that will also host pre-season matches.

Several AFL pre-season matches will comprise double-headers that also feature the new AFL Women's competition.