The AFL Commission will almost certainly make a definitive call on Good Friday football this week with the long-held tradition of keeping the religious day football-free expected to be broken and a 4pm game scheduled for next season in Melbourne.
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Fairfax Media understands Mike Fitzpatrick's AFL Commission now has the numbers to push through a Good Friday game after the league gave the concept the green light last year. The commission will make the call on Friday when it meets in Brisbane.
Most of Gillon McLachlan's executive is understood to be supportive of the change. While talks with the Seven Network and News Limited are ongoing, with the AFL consulting regularly with the Good Friday Appeal stakeholders, all parties now seem on board with the concept for next year.
And it has emerged that St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs have been working closely with the AFL and the Good Friday Appeal stakeholders to present a compelling case to share the potential blockbuster.
While North Melbourne has continued to push its case to stage the fixture, for which it has been lobbying since the 1990s, and Carlton and Geelong, too, have worked heavily behind the scenes for Good Friday football, it appears North is now no certainty to win the game.
The Saints and the Bulldogs, who contested a dramatic round17 clash on Saturday night and are without genuine blockbuster fixtures, have reportedly put forward their joint case to share Good Friday on an ongoing basis.
It now appears only a strong resistance from a minority of commissioners will prevent a Good Friday announcement in the coming week. While Andrew Demetriou opposed a game on the Christian holy day during his tenure as AFL chief, McLachlan has recently stated his appetite for a 4pm game on Good Friday. Fitzpatrick has never held any significant opposition to the concept.
Although the AFL boss last week declared Good Friday football next year a 50-50 proposition, he is understood to have privately declared at recent functions that the odds have moved more strongly in favour of a break from tradition.
Speaking at an Adelaide Crows sponsors function in Melbourne on Friday with Seven boss Lewis Martin looking on, McLachlan said he had been working closely with the network and News Limited to alleviate any concerns a game would in dilute the Good Friday Appeal.
McLachlan has strongly hinted several times this year that Good Friday Australian Rules football will most likely make its debut on the AFL calendar in 2017. In March, the league boss said the commission resisted breaking with a long-held taboo, largely because the season-opening round fell on Easter weekend.
"Given Easter doesn't open [next season], there'll be a better look at it." Good Friday falls on April 14 next year, and is expected to take place in round four.
The AFL has been preparing the public for Good Friday football for some years and has met dozens of times with key representatives of the Royal Children's Hospital Appeal and media partners the Seven Network and News Limited.
Although there have been strong suggestions the AFL would schedule one game on the religious holiday outside Victoria or that Channel Seven and Fox Footy would respectively televise a game each, the highly likely scenario is just one free-to-air clash, simulcast on pay TV, will take place next season.
