Footy frenzy to continue

AFL clubs heading into second big squeeze

THE AFL is unleashing a second compressed fixture called the Footy Festival, with matches to be played on 17 of 18 days across Rounds 14-17.

The league is in the midst of 20 consecutive days of football as part of the Footy Frenzy Rounds 9-12 — and will on Friday unveil a fixture beginning on Thursday August 27, after a three-day break from Round 13. The AFL will compress those three rounds but have a conventional Thursday-Sunday Round 18 that will not have official days or times for games until later in the homeand-away season.

The AFL has announced Hawthorn and Richmond will play on Thursday, August 27.

Ten of the 18 teams will be handed a bye in the new block.

Melbourne and Essendon will play their catch-up game in that block, and are among the teams with a gruelling schedule ahead.

The league’s Round 18 schedule could be orchestrated to allow a Thursday night opener in the first week of the finals.

But the league might also decide to hand clubs a bye break before the finals begin.

If clubs are not given a week off, there could be mass resting of players in teams that cannot change ladder position.

The league had been keen to canvass clubs on the toll taken on their players in the compressed schedule, featuring 20 straight days of footy.

But clubs including Geelong and Collingwood were happy to forge ahead, with each of those teams set to get a bye in coming weeks. Collingwood and Geelong would actually benefit from rivals having a tough schedule with four and five-day breaks, given they have had to come through a fixture with four games in as few as 14 days.

The league is set to host the Brownlow Medal in the week after Round 18, given 15 of the AFL sides will be in Queensland, with some about to jet home after their seasons are done. Cairns will host Queensland’s leading team, Brisbane Lions, as part of the frantic run home.

The Cairns Post reported on Thursday that the Lions would play Sydney at Cazalys Stadium on September 13 in Round 17, while other games slotted for the venue included Sydney Swans v Melbourne on September 3, in Round 15, and Melbourne v Fremantle on September 7, in Round 16.