AFL releases the 2024 season draw – find out if your team is one of the big winners or losers as the league makes a host of changes
- Carlton has most of its games on Thursday and Friday evenings
- Adelaide will have six games on Thursday or Friday evening
- AFL is waiting to see how the opening round is received
The AFL will ‘wait and see’ how the first opening round is received before committing to making it a permanent part of the fixture list.
After a stunning rise to the finals this year, Carlton has been rewarded the fixture of 20224 with the most Thursday and Friday evening games of any club in 2024.
The Blues will be involved in eight prime-time matches next year, one more than grand finalists Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions, who have seven each.
Adelaide, who climbed the ladder in 2023 but was deceived by a controversial referee decision in an infamous late-season match against Sydney, has been given six games in front of a national TV audience on Thursday or Friday evenings.
But fans are still divided over the AFL’s announcement of a massive weekend of four matches played in Queensland and NSW to start the season.
Carlton and Richmond have regularly opened the AFL season on Thursday evenings, but the Blues and Tigers will meet the Lions and Suns respectively in the opening round in 2024.
These matches come in the same week as the NRL continues the first round of the 2024 season with the first matches of the year in Australia, following the rugby league season opener in Las Vegas the weekend before.
“It’s a unique opportunity where we’ve had access to locations we wouldn’t normally have access to,” Josh Bowler, the AFL’s broadcast and scheduling boss, told the league’s website.
“I think for now we’ll just see how it (Opening Round) goes.
“We think it’s going to be big and we’ll reassess the direction going into next year.”
All clubs have a bye between rounds 12 and 15.
Time slots have been confirmed up to and including Round 15, with the remainder of the dates and times for matches to be fixed later in the season.
“Thursday night’s Footy will be shown in 14 rounds, allowing for blockbuster matches to be scheduled, and we know fans love these big clashes which build anticipation for the rest of the weekend’s matches,” Bowler said in a statement .
More details to follow…