AFL finals to start with Thursday night match but no Sunday game in opening week

THE AFL has confirmed that the finals series will again begin on a Thursday night, with the schedule for the opening week now locked in.

Matthew Boyd and Liam Picken celebrate their Thursday night finals win last year. Picture: Getty Images

THE AFL has confirmed that the finals series will again be opened on a Thursday night.

Acting league football operations boss Andrew Dillon could be in for a frantic Sunday evening with the AFL likely to be forced to wait until all of this weekend’s Round 23 matches are completed for the final top eight to be set.

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Dillon said that while venues and teams remain up in the air, the schedule for the first finals weekend’s four clashes have been set, with the league set to repeat the Thursday night timeslot following the success of last year’s West Coast-Western Bulldogs elimination final.

“It will certainly be on a Thursday night (that it kicks off) — whether it’s interstate or not depends on how we end up after Sunday,” he said.

“With the way Round 23 has played out, we’ll probably still be waiting until after the West Coast (versus) Adelaide twilight game on Sunday until we know exactly what the final make up of the eight is.

“But it will be Thursday night, Friday night and then we’ll have two games on the Saturday — one during the day and one at night.”

Geelong must beat Greater Western Sydney this weekend to secure a home qualifying final, though Dillon was adamant that the league has no “final view” on whether it would be played at the MCG or Simonds Stadium, saying a “balance” would be struck.

The AFL says it has no “final view” on whether Simonds Stadium could host a qualifying final. Picture: Getty Images

“When we do the scheduling for the finals, we’ll take into account a number of factors — the number of fans, broadcasters, then use contractual obligations and days break,” he said on SEN.

“There’s still a lot of permutations and combinations and they won’t be known until after Sunday. We’ll have to take all those into account when we see the final mix of the eight is.”

Matthew Boyd and Liam Picken celebrate their Thursday night finals win last year. Picture: Getty Images

The league’s illicit drugs policy has also been in the spotlight since former Richmond and Carlton player Chris Yarran last week revealed his battle with ice addiction.

But despite suggestions that clubs should be made aware of any illicit drugs “strikes” or potential issues when they are looking at trading in a player, Dillon backed the system.

“I think if we go back to when the illicit drugs policy came in over 10 years ago, it has been a health and welfare model. And the players have signed up to that voluntarily,” he said.

“Over the journey, the policy has evolved and only as recently as a couple of years ago we brought in a few more punitive measures and there are abilities for clubs to find out about players if they’re seen to be acting contrary to the spirit of the code or if they have a number of elevated hair tests.

“That’s not information that (the club looking to trade a player in) will get.

“We’ve got the balance right in health and welfare and privacy.

“In a way, if you’re a club that’s looking to recruit a player, it’s a bit of buyer beware.”