Two Round 24 AFL matches - Hawthorn vs North Melbourne and Richmond vs Gold Coast - will have adjusted start times on the final Saturday of the home & away season.
A union pay dispute involving TasNetworks has meant the stadium lights at UTAS Stadium may not be in operation, pending potential outages, eliminating the possibility of a 4:40 pm time slot for Hawthorn and North Melbourne, with the latter half of the match to be played under the evening sky.
Thus, a 12:30 pm start time for the UTAS stadium clash has been confirmed.
With both clubs having already made the trip to Launceston, a venue change was not an option, the league opting not to use Hobart's Blundstone Arena or force the teams back to Melbourne to use the vacant Marvel Stadium.
The development also means the dead-rubber clash between Richmond and Gold Coast at the MCG has been moved back from a 2:10 pm start to 3:20 pm.
Hawthornโs season-defining game v North Melb in Launceston will now start at 12.30pm.
Was scheduled for 4.40pm.
TasNetworks staff responsible for fixing power outages are on strike amid a pay dispute - hence lights arenโt an option.Richmond v GC pushed back 2.10pm to 3.20pm
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) August 23, 2024
The development shapes as a major story this weekend, being the final round of the home & away season with major implications for the upcoming finals campaign and even the National Draft in November.
Hawthorn must win to stake their claim in September, and with recent injury interruptions and their season on the line, developments like these will not please coach Sam Mitchell.
Thankfully, the nine games of footy are set to go ahead, with no adjustments required beyond these two games.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has provided a statement on the developing story.
โDue to circumstance out of our control we have made the decision to move to an earlier start time of 12.30pm for the Hawthorn v North Melbourne match and thank everyone involved in working through this,โ said Mr Dillon.
โThe later start time for the Richmond and Gold Coast SUNS match means we do not have three games being played at once and fans tuning into the broadcast will also be able to celebrate Dustin Martin's lap of honour at the MCG.โ
โRound 24 is set to be one of the biggest rounds of all time with top eight spots on the line all throughout the weekend, we could not ask for a better ending to the 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership home and away season.โ
