THE biggest surprise of the 2022 AFL fixture was the trio of weeks with Friday double-headers.<\/p>\n
Round three will see Melbourne host Essendon into the Port v Crows showdown, round five has the Good Friday clash between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs followed by West Coast versus Sydney and round eight has Port Adelaide hosting the Dogs followed by Fremantle and the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n
While this caught many off guard, there are clear reasons for all three double-headers, as explained by AFL Head of Broadcasting and Scheduling Marcus King.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a rationale [behind the Friday double-header]\u2026 the reason for that [in round three] is that\u2019s the weekend of the AFLW grand final,\u201d King told Sportsday<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo by having a second game on the Friday, it does clear out space on the Saturday for the women\u2019s grand final, which we think is really important.<\/p>\n \u201cThe AFLW Grand Final will be the Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cThen in round five, which is Good Friday, we have the two games there, which we\u2019ve done the last couple of years.<\/p>\n \u201cThen in round eight, the two games, round eight is Mother\u2019s Day, and the feedback from fans and clubs has been that attending footy on Mother\u2019s Day is not ideal.<\/p>\n \u201cSo by having a second Friday on that round, it does reduce the number of games on that Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n The Friday double-ups in rounds three and eight overlap and King said they had to find a way to balance the broadcast and attendance side of things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were trying to find a balance between a broadcast outcome and achieving as much separation as possible, but also providing for an attendance outcome for both games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBalancing those factors, we landed on the times with about an hour\u2019s difference.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that there is an overlap, but each game does have a half in clear air and we\u2019re really excited about both games.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking with the Crows and Port, there\u2019s a high degree of excitement about a Friday Showdown.\u201d<\/p>\n The season will get underway on March 16 with another first, Melbourne and the Bulldogs facing off on a Wednesday night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n