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Carlton and Geelong are in line for blockbuster starts to next season, as the Western Bulldogs were dumped from Good Friday footy.
North Melbourne will host Carlton on the religious holiday on April 7, as the league seeks to use the drawing power of a big club to grow the fixture, which is still in its early stages. The two teams had both signalled their interest to play each other on Good Friday almost a decade ago.
The Blues are also slated to face the Cats in round two as part of a draft fixture that is yet to be finalised, having already been confirmed to play Richmond on the first night of the season. The Easter round will be in round four next year, immediately preceding the so-called magic round.
Carlton and North Melbourne are set to play on Good Friday.Credit:AFL Photos
The AFL had intended to release details of that round on Tuesday, but that has now been pushed back to at least Wednesday and the rest of the fixture to be unveiled on Friday.
Clubs have received draft versions for their home games, but it is not uncommon for the league to then alter the schedule after receiving feedback over fixture requests.
It shapes as a difficult but must-watch start to the season for the Blues as they aim to end a 10-year drought from finals action, while the Cats would begin their premiership defence against clubs with two of the largest supporter bases in the league.
The Dogs could not match the Blues’ pulling power in their bid to remain in the Good Friday time slot, though they may have also unwittingly contributed to their fate with thumping wins of 128 and 68 points over North. Those games drew crowds of 28,483 and 32,162, respectively, which the league will hope they can top next year.
The Dogs will be disappointed to have lost the public holiday game, smaller clubs have trouble securing a regular marquee fixture from the league.
Collingwood shares the ANZAC Day game with Essendon, and also takes part in the annual King’s Birthday game against Melbourne, which has become synonymous with Neale Daniher’s Fight MND campaign, while the Blues and Richmond have returned to opening night of the season, and Geelong and Hawthorn play annually on Easter Monday.