AFL qualifying and elimination finals fixture set early ahead of wildcard games

Minor premiers Fremantle will start their bid for a maiden AFL flag with a Thursday night qualifying final against Hawthorn at Optus Stadium.

The AFL released the fixtures for next week’s full-blown finals on Monday, confirming one game on Thursday, one on Friday and two on Saturday.

Fremantle completed a thrilling comeback to beat Hawthorn earlier in the season and would secure passage to a home preliminary final, plus a week off, with victory.

On Friday night, fifth-placed Geelong will play the lowest-ranked team to progress through the wildcard round, meaning the Cats cannot play Melbourne and will face the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood or Carlton.

Embattled second-placed Sydney will host reigning premiers Brisbane on the Saturday afternoon, before Adelaide take on the highest-ranked wildcard winner in an Adelaide Oval elimination final that night.

As there can only be one Melbourne home semi-finalist — Hawthorn if they lose — the AFL can also avoid a Sunday game after the NFL takes over the MCG on Friday, September 11.

Sixth-placed Adelaide avoid in-form Carlton, instead drawing the Demons, Bulldogs or Magpies.

The eighth-placed Bulldogs face ninth-placed Collingwood this Friday while Melbourne (seventh) take on Carlton (10th) on Saturday.

If Carlton progress, they would have to beat the Cats off a six-day break, while Melbourne would have that same break and have to travel to Adelaide if they win.

The four wildcard teams have the daunting prospect of needing to win five games in a row to claim the premiership.

When asked if the Bulldogs could pull off such a run, star midfielder Ed Richards said: “I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks.

“I think we’ve finished the year strongly, so that’s always good to to be able to go into the finals with some sort of form.”

The AFL also confirmed Brisbane’s AFLW match against GWS at Brighton Homes Arena, originally scheduled for 4.35pm AEST, has been pushed back to 6.35pm.

That is to enable Lions fans to watch both their men’s and women’s teams.