THE AFL is toying with restructuring its pre-finals bye as it accommodates the postponed Gold Coast and Essendon game.

With the Suns firmly in the hunt for the finals and the Bombers winning five of their past six games, the game delayed from Opening Round to after round 24 looks likely to have finals implications.

The League has recently held its AFL Awards night, where it has named the All-Australian side as well as the Telstra AFL Rising Star, AFLPA Most Valuable Player and Coaches Award winners, on the Wednesday of the pre-finals bye week.

However, they are looking at moving that event to Thursday to keep a window on Wednesday night free to stage the rescheduled Gold Coast v Essendon game, which was forced to be pushed back after Cyclone Alfred hit Queensland in Opening Round.

The AFL is aiming to release the locked in dates and timeslots for the floating fixture from round 16-23 later this week, but will not determine the timeslots for round 24 until later in the season.

For their regular clashes in the final round, Gold Coast is fixtured to take on Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval and Essendon will play Carlton at the MCG.

It presents a tightrope for the AFL's fixturing team to walk, with those games likely to be played in the Thursday and Friday night slots so accommodate for quick turnarounds before the extra game is jammed in during the following week.

Having the game on the Wednesday after round 24 –  Wednesday, August 28 – would also give both teams at least an eight-day break before the finals begin the following Thursday.

The Suns on track to make the finals for the first time in their history and the Bombers pushing up to ninth on the ladder after their victory over Sydney last weekend.