Another festival of footy on the way

THE AFL will race through the remainder of the 2020 regular season with another festival of football scheduled for rounds 14 to 17.

Games will be played on 18 of 19 days starting from August 27, the second stage of a compressed fixture in the coronavirus-affected season.

A Thursday doubleheader will get round 14 underway, with Hawthorn taking on Essendon in a twilight timeslot at the Adelaide Oval before premiership contenders Richmond and West Coast battle at Metricon Stadium.

The only day with no football from there until the end of round 17 will be August 31.

Collingwood and Gold Coast will wrap up the football marathon on September 14 when they clash at the Gabba.

Teams that are yet to have byes this year will receive one during this four-round period, while the postponed Melbourne-Essendon game is scheduled for the final round.

The AFL is leaving Round 18 in a floating format, with venues and times for games to be announced in coming weeks.

AFL fixture boss Travis Auld said there had been widespread support for the jam-packed schedule.

The league’s current run of 20-straight days of football will finish on Monday when Richmond play Gold Coast at the Gabba.

“Clubs and players are enjoying playing more often and viewership remains very strong, with the average audience per game up 14 per cent,” Auld said.

“Scheduling a second compression phase allows us to again play more matches in a shorter period of time as the majority of clubs continue to live in a hub environment.

“The support of players, clubs and broadcasters to take this approach, paired with the limitations on attendance at matches, supports the playing of games in non-traditional timeslots.”

West Coast and Fremantle will hit the road again after being based at home in Perth since mid-July following their month-long stint in Queensland when the season resumed.

Most games will take place in Adelaide and south-east Queensland, although Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns will host three matches with Sydney and Melbourne featuring in two of those encounters.

The Demons will also fly to the Northern Territory when they host St Kilda at Alice Springs’ Traeger Park in Round 14.

(C) AAP 2020

AFL SEASON 2020 – ROUND 14-18