THE AFL has rescheduled both of Queensland's Opening Round fixtures after Tropical Cyclone Alfred forced the postponements of games in Brisbane and the Gold Coast this week. 

The Lions were set to unfurl the premiership flag against Geelong at the Gabba on Thursday night, but will now face the Cats on the Saturday of round three at 6.35pm AEST (7.35pm AEDT).

Geelong and Brisbane both had byes scheduled for round three, making that move far simpler than the Gold Coast v Essendon game, which was slated for this Saturday evening.

After assessing a range of options, the AFL has now moved that fixture to the end of the home and away season.

The League is yet to lock in a date – no dates are confirmed yet for rounds 15 to 24 as part of the floating fixture – but the game will be included as part of round 24, with a view to maximising the breaks between both fixtures in that round and the first final.

Essendon is already scheduled to host Carlton at the MCG in round 24, while Gold Coast is locked in to travel to play Port Adelaide.

The postponed clash will become part of a floating fixture, providing the AFL with flexibility later in the season. The AFL will announce the round 24 fixture later in the year in a similar timeline to previous seasons.

The Brisbane v Geelong game in round three will be broadcast live on Fox Footy and on delay in Queensland from 8.05pm AEST on Channel Seven. The Gold Coast v Essendon game will be broadcast on Channel Seven.

The Lions v Cats game will be the fourth game on Saturday, March 29, along with Melbourne v Gold Coast, St Kilda v Richmond and Hawthorn v Greater Western Sydney.

"When looking at the rescheduling of these matches, we had a focus on having the least amount of disruption on the competition, ensuring that all clubs still have a mid-season bye and managing travel arrangements across the season – particularly for the four impacted clubs," AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said.

"I would like to thank our clubs, broadcasters and venues for their cooperation during this unprecedented situation and our thoughts remain with our staff, players, fans and all those in southeast Queensland and northern NSW that may be impacted."

Both Brisbane and Gold Coast trained on Wednesday morning before all players and staff headed home ahead of the extreme weather.

Both clubs have scheduled training sessions for Sunday and won't train again until then.