The AFL has explained the reasons behind Friday night's double-header in the wake of criticism of scheduling overlapping games in the prime time TV slot.
With two matches - Melbourne vs Essendon and Adelaide vs Port Adelaide - starting just an hour apart, leading AFL broadcaster Gerard Whately referred to the fixturing as "a terrible idea" on Tuesday.
Speaking on SEN, Whately said overlapping games was never ideal - however, it was especially "silly" to do so on a Friday night.
"It’s a terrible idea. Putting games on top of each other at any time I think is a dud idea, but doing it on a Friday night is just silly," Whateley said.
"It was to clear the Saturday for the AFLW Grand Final, but if you’re going to have two games on a Friday, then one needs to be in Perth and you run them back to back.
"Overlap on a Friday night, that’s no good."
The AFL's general manager of finance, clubs and broadcast, Travis Auld, has since responded to the criticism, stating there were two key reasons for the fixturing - giving the AFLW grand final clean air and giving fans every opportunity to attend matches.
"At the time of developing the men's fixture, we anticipated the NAB AFLW grand final to overlap with round three. In order to provide clean air for the AFLW grand final, we fixtured two Friday night matches an hour apart," Auld told AFL.com.au.
"In this case, we have opted to schedule both Friday night matches at times that allow the most number of supporters the opportunity to attend the games.
"If we were to schedule a Friday night game at say 6pm and another at say 9pm, for example, neither of those timeslots would be ideal for fans attending matches.
"While the AFLW Grand Final has subsequently been pushed back one week due to COVID impacts, the two Friday night men’s games in Round 3 will allow football fans, including members and supporters of the Adelaide Crows and Melbourne, to have the opportunity to watch the AFLW preliminary finals on Saturday afternoon at those same venues – the Adelaide Oval and the MCG – with both matches clear of any men's games."
There is also a Friday double-header scheduled in Round 5 - Good Friday - but the games do not overlap, with North Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs set to start three hours prior to West Coast vs. Sydney.
However, there is an overlapping double-header scheduled for the Friday night of Round 8, with just 70 minutes between the start of Port Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs and Fremantle vs North Melbourne.
Auld explained that was to play just two games on the Sunday of that weekend.
"Two Friday night games are also scheduled in round eight to minimise the number of games on the Sunday which is Mother's Day," he said.