The AFL has confirmed that the 2021 start date will be on March 18, perย The Herald Sun.
The date was reportedly agreed on following a meeting between the AFL and club presidents and chief executives on Thursday.
The competition will return to a standard 22-round season, with details of the fixture still to be released.
โOur plan and our start date will be 18 March next year with a 22-round season,โ AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said on Friday.
โWhat we talked about was the timing of the release.
โWe stand here today having worked through a great collaboration with our clubs, our players, our venues, our supporters to get through this year.
โAnd what itโs taught is things move fast, and we look to 2021 knowing COVID will still be around and weโll have to work through it to an extent.
โHow pervasive it is and what the impacts are, we donโt know.
โBut standing here today, the South Australian border is closed to multiple states, Western Australia has been closed for many months.
โThe discussion we had was the later we can release the fixture, the more certainty we can give our clubs and players and supporters.
โWe could put a fixture out slightly later in December, but we have borders closed at the moment and three or four months before the season.
โSo the conversation is primarily around our footy departments and our supporters (and) what do the clubs think is the latest we could release the fixture to give the most certainty for our footy departments and our supporters.
โThat will be ongoing and we havenโt made a decision on when the fixture will be released and maybe weโll put out the match ups and the first two rounds and wait for the balance.
โOr maybe weโll put it out all pre-Christmas, I donโt know.โ
The league is "highly unlikely' to retain 16-minute quarters for next season, with an expectation that 20 minute quarters will return.
A Footy Frenzy of some form is being considered, while the league is not forecasting the needs for hubs in 2021 but ย โthere will be contingenciesโ if required.
The AFLW season will kick off on February 1.
