Far more likely to be the Saturday afternoon (to maximise crowd - like the final)I'd wager the Friday night the way it is listed.
This also opens up the possibility of a Friday Night Essendon v Hawthorn in round 1. I’m sure they’d want to beat the 81,000 for this years game too given the Merrett trade and the fact it’s an Essendon home game (with reciprocal rights for Hawks fans).




