AFL considers changing fixture for round 22

THE AFL is considering altering the order of its round-22 games to give some teams an extra day's break before they start their finals campaign.

AFL chief operations officer Gillon McLachlan said he would be notifying clubs this week of what changes – if any - would be made to the fixture.

Currently three of the top-four teams play on the last Sunday of the home-and-away season and AFL chiefs have been discussing moving the Collingwood/Western Bulldogs game, which is the final game of the home-and-away season and is scheduled to start at 4.40pm.

Ladder leader St Kilda also plays Melbourne on the Sunday, while Geelong has an early Saturday game against Fremantle at Skilled Stadium.

Changing football fixtures is a complicated process that involves negotiations with stadium managers and broadcast partners and McLachlan said it was only an outside chance that the fixture would be re-organised.

He said if the AFL decided to go ahead with the proposed rescheduling it was “potentially a problem” that some people would see it as a precedent and request more on-the-run changes next season.

“But this is for the finals," he said. "People (should) understand (it is an exception).”