2011 Shardball season

2011 AFL premiership season
File:2011SBSlogo.png
Date	7 March – 27 September 2011
Teams	8
Matches played	?

The 2011 Shardball season was the inaugural season of the Australian Shardball League (ASL), the newly established national competition for senior men’s Shardball in Australia. Serving as the highest level of organized play in the sport, the season marked the formal introduction of Shardball as a professional code, bringing together foundation clubs from across the country in a unified league structure. The competition set the groundwork for the ASL’s rules, scheduling format, and finals system, and its outcomes shaped the development of the sport in subsequent years.

Background

In October 2010, the Australian Shardball League (ASL) was officially established as the governing body for the new national Shardball competition. The league announced an initial five-year, $320 million broadcast agreement with the Nine Network and Fox Sports, marking the largest commercial investment in the sport to date. Key details of the deal included:

• Nine would broadcast one Friday night match and one Sunday afternoon match each round on free-to-air television, along with all finals matches including the grand final live nationwide.
• Fox Sports would hold exclusive rights to broadcast every regular-season match live, as well as provide dedicated commentary teams and weekly panel programs focused on Shardball.
• Nine’s digital platform, ninemsn, would stream all of its televised matches, while Fox Sports launched its new streaming service, FoxPlay, to simulcast its coverage of the competition.
• Saturday night matches were scheduled to be exclusive to Fox Sports for the first 12 rounds of the season, before Nine gained rights to a limited number of Saturday fixtures in the closing stages of the year.

In December 2010, ahead of the official fixture release, the ASL confirmed that the inaugural season would feature a 22-round home-and-away format, with each of the eight foundation clubs playing one another three times. The fixture also included a series of themed rounds such as Heritage Round, Indigenous Round, and the "Northern Clash" between Darwin and Brisbane.

During the same period, several clubs undertook branding launches to mark the new competition. The Sydney Shardhawks unveiled a crimson-and-black colour scheme with a stylised hawk emblem, while the Melbourne Titans introduced a navy-and-gold identity. Hobart Crags and Canberra Sentinels also released new guernseys designed to emphasise their regional roots. In February 2011, a pre-season exhibition match between the All-Stars and a composite “Rising Squad” took place at the Sydney Football Stadium, attracting over 28,000 spectators and building momentum ahead of the league’s opening round.

Teams

Club	Coach	Leadership group
		Captain(s)	Vice-captain(s)	Other leader(s)
Sydney Shardhawks	Daniel Kerrigan	Blake Foster	Aaron Kane, Riley Thomas	Marcus O’Neill, Ethan Ward
Melbourne Titans	Stephen Doyle	Nathan Cross	Dylan Marks, Corey Ellison	Jack Harrington, Lucas Webb, Trent Miles
Brisbane Breakers	Craig Morton	Liam Drummond	Connor Hayes, Josh Farrelly	Tyson Cole, Brandon Harper
Adelaide Forge	Peter Lawton	Mitchell Grant	Zachary Doyle	Patrick Laird, Cameron Bishop
Perth Ironfangs	Darren McIntyre	Owen Marshall	Jared Collins	Heath Stanton, Kyle Rivers, Damien Cole
Hobart Crags	Anthony Preston	Samuel Clarke	Oliver Kent	Matthew Dunbar, Lachlan Frost
Darwin Cyclones	Paul Hennessy	Jacob Reynolds	Daniel McCallum	Kieran Hunt, Sean Parker, Aaron Talbot
Canberra Sentinels	Michael Kerr	Ryan Gallagher	Matthew O’Connor	Dean Wallace, Corey Summers, Josh Hammond

Games

Round 1 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 25 March (7:40 pm)	Sydney Shardhawks	14.11 (95)	def.	Canberra Sentinels 10.8 (68)	Sydney Football Stadium (32,450)
Saturday, 26 March (1:10 pm)	Melbourne Titans	18.9 (117)	def.	Hobart Crags 12.7 (79)	Docklands Stadium (28,360)
Saturday, 26 March (7:10 pm)	Brisbane Breakers	15.13 (103)	def.	Darwin Cyclones 13.10 (88)	The Gabba (24,210)
Sunday, 27 March (2:40 pm)	Adelaide Forge	16.14 (110)	def.	Perth Ironfangs 11.12 (78)	AAMI Stadium (29,875)

Round 2 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 1 April (7:40 pm)	Darwin Cyclones	13.14 (92)	def.	Hobart Crags 9.12 (66)	Marrara Oval (16,200)
Saturday, 2 April (2:10 pm)	Melbourne Titans	15.10 (100)	def.	Perth Ironfangs 12.9 (81)	Docklands Stadium (27,900)
Saturday, 2 April (7:20 pm)	Canberra Sentinels	11.11 (77)	def.	Adelaide Forge 10.13 (73)	Manuka Oval (14,850)
Sunday, 3 April (3:10 pm)	Brisbane Breakers	12.15 (87)	def.	Sydney Shardhawks 11.16 (82)	The Gabba (25,400)

Round 3 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 8 April (7:40 pm)	Perth Ironfangs	14.12 (96)	def.	Hobart Crags 12.13 (85)	Subiaco Oval (19,750)
Saturday, 9 April (2:10 pm)	Adelaide Forge	13.15 (93)	def.	Sydney Shardhawks 11.9 (75)	AAMI Stadium (26,180)
Saturday, 9 April (7:20 pm)	Melbourne Titans	12.16 (88)	def.	Brisbane Breakers 12.10 (82)	MCG (34,420)
Sunday, 10 April (3:10 pm)	Canberra Sentinels	14.9 (93)	def.	Darwin Cyclones 12.14 (86)	Manuka Oval (15,650)

Round 4 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 15 April (7:40 pm)	Sydney Shardhawks	15.13 (103)	def.	Hobart Crags 9.12 (66)	Sydney Football Stadium (29,850)
Saturday, 16 April (2:10 pm)	Brisbane Breakers	14.14 (98)	def.	Perth Ironfangs 11.11 (77)	The Gabba (23,400)
Saturday, 16 April (7:20 pm)	Darwin Cyclones	12.10 (82)	def.	Adelaide Forge 11.12 (78)	Marrara Oval (17,150)
Sunday, 17 April (3:10 pm)	Melbourne Titans	17.11 (113)	def.	Canberra Sentinels 12.14 (86)	MCG (36,900)

Round 5 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 22 April (7:40 pm)	Adelaide Forge	14.11 (95)	def.	Hobart Crags 10.9 (69)	AAMI Stadium (21,300)
Saturday, 23 April (2:10 pm)	Perth Ironfangs	12.15 (87)	def.	Canberra Sentinels 11.10 (76)	Subiaco Oval (20,150)
Saturday, 23 April (7:20 pm)	Sydney Shardhawks	13.14 (92)	def.	Brisbane Breakers 12.12 (84)	Sydney Football Stadium (30,200)
Sunday, 24 April (3:10 pm)	Melbourne Titans	16.12 (108)	def.	Darwin Cyclones 14.13 (97)	MCG (35,100)

Round 6 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 29 April (7:40 pm)	Canberra Sentinels	14.12 (96)	def.	Hobart Crags 11.9 (75)	Manuka Oval (15,300)
Saturday, 30 April (2:10 pm)	Sydney Shardhawks	12.15 (87)	def.	Perth Ironfangs 10.12 (72)	Sydney Football Stadium (28,450)
Saturday, 30 April (7:20 pm)	Melbourne Titans	18.13 (121)	def.	Adelaide Forge 13.11 (89)	Docklands Stadium (33,900)
Sunday, 1 May (3:10 pm)	Brisbane Breakers	15.10 (100)	def.	Darwin Cyclones 13.15 (93)	The Gabba (24,700)

Round 7 – 2011 ASL Season
Date & Time	Home Team	Score	Result	Away Team	Venue (Crowd)
Friday, 6 May (7:40 pm)	Adelaide Forge	13.16 (94)	def.	Canberra Sentinels 12.12 (84)	AAMI Stadium (24,200)
Saturday, 7 May (2:10 pm)	Brisbane Breakers	14.11 (95)	def.	Hobart Crags 10.13 (73)	The Gabba (22,900)
Saturday, 7 May (7:20 pm)	Perth Ironfangs	15.9 (99)	def.	Darwin Cyclones 13.14 (92)	Subiaco Oval (18,850)
Sunday, 8 May (3:10 pm)	Melbourne Titans	17.14 (116)	def.	Sydney Shardhawks 13.10 (88)	MCG (38,200)

Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Melbourne Titans	6	6	0	0	647	514	125.9	24
2	Sydney Shardhawks	6	4	2	0	534	465	114.8	16
3	Brisbane Breakers	6	4	2	0	554	521	106.3	16
4	Adelaide Forge	6	3	3	0	538	502	107.2	12
5	Canberra Sentinels	6	3	3	0	496	529	93.8	12
6	Perth Ironfangs	6	2	4	0	491	556	88.3	8
7	Darwin Cyclones	6	2	4	0	538	552	97.5	8
8	Hobart Crags	6	0	6	0	440	599	73.5	0

Updated to match(es) played on after Round 6. Source: ASL Official Records
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) points for

Finals

	Semifinals					Finals