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Hawthorn and Essendon have welcomed the AFL's decision to move their historic round-one AFLW clash to Marvel Stadium.
Hawthorn and Essendon have welcomed the decision to move their season-opening AFLW game to Marvel Stadium following an "unprecedented" demand for tickets.
Entering the competition as expansion sides this season, the Hawks and Bombers' round-one fixture had initially been scheduled for the 12,000-capacity North Port Oval in Port Melbourne.
But with tickets selling out within 24 hours, a "Move it to Marvel" campaign was quickly launched with the AFL subsequently announcing the shift to the larger venue for the August 27 fixture.
"I'm really excited," Hawthorn skipper Tilly Lucas-Rodd told AAP.
"I think that women's sport deserves to be on the big stage and have that opportunity to have as many fans as possible.
"A big thing for Hawthorn was making sure that all our members and supporters could come out and that's going to happen because it's on Marvel.
"As a playing group, we're excited. It's a dream come true for a lot of girls; when you're growing up you want to play on the big grounds that you see watching footy on the TV."
Speaking at the captain's launch of the AFLW competition, AFL general manager of women's football Nicole Livingstone described early ticket sales for the rescheduled fixture as strong.
The league has not ruled out moving further games from smaller community grounds to larger venues if the ticketing demand justifies it.
"We all found out (about the move to Marvel) together, the whole playing group," Bombers captain Bonnie Toogood told AAP.
"We kind of all screamed and celebrated and got up and about because we know it's a historic moment for our club.
"To get the two fan bases to hopefully pack out Marvel Stadium for a really big showcase of women's footy, it's a really important moment. We were really excited."
Essendon defeated Port Adelaide in a practice match over the weekend while Hawthorn were defeated by Richmond in their final pre-season tune-up.
"Yes, it's great and it's awesome but (the game against Essendon is) for premiership points, so you need to switch on and play good footy, focus in on that," said Lucas-Rodd.
