TWILIGHT END
AFL aims for blockbuster finish as Cats, Blues draw Saturday
GEELONG will finalise its preparations for September action with a Saturday twilight hitout against a vastly improved Carlton at GMHBA Stadium.
The AFL last night released its Round 23 fixture, with a blockbuster Friday night clash between Collingwood and Essendon headlining the last round of the home-and-away season. It is one of several games that will have significant ramifications for the finals series the following fortnight, including a mouth-watering Sunday afternoon match involving top-two aspirants Richmond and Brisbane Lions at the MCG.
The Lions currently sit four points clear of Richmond in third place but their run home also includes tough games against the Bulldogs and Geelong, while it will be the Tigers’ seventh straight MCG match.
The Western Bulldogs and Adelaide, who could potentially be vying for eighth spot, will also meet on Sunday at Mars Stadium in Ballarat.
Other matches bound to draw high interest will be the Saturday night game between West Coast and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium in Perth, with the Eagles likely to be chasing a top-two spot, while there remains an outside chance that Port Adelaide and Fremantle, who will play the last game of the season in a Sunday twilight clash at Adelaide Oval, could be in the mix for eighth spot.
The Cats have played two Saturday twilight games at GMHBA Stadium in 2019, when they defeated the Western Bulldogs in front of 31,373 fans back in Round 9 and again against Sydney in front of 29,021 fans in Round 11.
Geelong and Carlton drew a crowd of 31,090 last season when they played on a Saturday night in May, but the Saturday twilight fixture against the Blues on August 24 will coincide with the first week of senior finals in both the Bellarine Football League and Geelong and District Football League, which will not have finished by the time the Cats game starts.
It is understood for Geelong to secure a home final at GMHBA Stadium its only chance would be a first v fourth clash with GWS but the Giants would have to leapfrog over Richmond, and even then the league appears reluctant to move away from the MCG in September.
The Giants play Gold Coast on the Saturday night in Round 23, meaning Cats officials will be glued to the screen after their match to see whether their wish to play at home in week one of finals is granted.
If Geelong hosted Brisbane in a qualifying final the league may cite the crowd of 55,768 at the MCG in the 2004 preliminary final to show why the game should be played in Melbourne.
The Pies-Essendon game would be expected to draw more than 80,000 to the MCG on the Friday night as both sides push for a potential home final that would come with sixth spot on the ladder.
Richmond’s MCG clash with Brisbane will be the second-last game of the season, with Seven handed that huge clash in its 3.20pm freeto-air slot. Only the North Melbourne-Melbourne game at Blundstone Arena and St Kilda-Sydney match at the SCG, both on Saturday afternoon, are unlikely to have finals ramifications.
Richmond could not play Friday night of Round 23, despite Brisbane’s lobbying, because the Tigers play Sunday in Round 22. with JON RALPH