Hodge’s Friday farewell

Hawthorn scores premier timeslot in floating fixture

HAWTHORN will host the Western Bulldogs on the Friday night of Round 23 under the AFL’s draft fixture.

The “floating” fixture will be confirmed after Round 20, but News Corp understands the league has put former Hawks captain Luke Hodge’s farewell into the marquee timeslot.

It reasons even if the Dogs fall out of finals contention Hodge’s retirement game will still command significant public appeal.

The Dogs, the reigning premiers, are currently outside the top eight on percentage.

Club stalwart Matthew Boyd will likely retire at the end of this year, and captain Robert Murphy said on Wednesday he was yet to make a decision on his own future.

But the attraction of watching Hodge, Boyd and poten- tially Hawk Josh Gibson in their final game could result in a sellout crowd at Etihad Stadium on August 25.

Geelong’s clash against Greater Western Sydney is the likely Saturday night game, while St Kilda and Richmond would play at the MCG on the Sunday at 3.20pm.

The fixture would hand Hawthorn its fifth Thursday or Friday night game this year.

The AFL does not have any plan to move the game to the MCG and has ruled out relocating any contests in the future. The league is the new owner of Etihad Stadium so in theory it could move contests to the MCG if they were likely to be sold out.

But the AFL has complicated food, drink and ticketing contracts, which make such changes difficult.

Hawthorn last week said it was already working on plans to celebrate Hodge’s career.

“We have spoken with the AFL and requested to host our Round 23 fixture against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night,” Hawthorn chief executive Tracey Gaudry said.

“Being the premier timeslot, it provides the club, our members and the broader football community the opportunity to farewell one of the greats of the game in Luke Hodge.”

St Kilda and Richmond will play on the Sunday because both play on the previous Sunday.