MELBOURNE legend Garry Lyon has called for an overhaul of the AFL season after the 2019 fixture was released yesterday.

It’s impossible to please everyone with these announcements and yesterday was no different, as some commentators questioned the favouritism shown towards certain teams, while club bosses also hit out.

Lyon questioned why the AFL is adamant on maintaining a 22-match season in an 18-team competition, saying in the interest of fairness, it would be much simpler to have everyone play each other once, plus a couple of extra games reserved for local derbies.

“If you were starting the AFL from scratch and you were working out how long the season’s going to be, you can’t tell me anyone would come up with 22 games,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.

“So why are we beholden to 22 games all of a sudden?

“All you’re ever going to do is end up with an inequitable situation.

“We’ve now got 18 teams and we haven’t changed. We just go, ‘Let’s keep 22.’

“We’ve got to grow up.”

A reduction in the season length would mean less money coming in for the AFL from broadcast rights deals, but Lyon said games would take on more importance if there were fewer of them, which should outweigh the focus on cash.

“Games get bigger because there’s more riding on every single game and you won’t have your dead rubbers at the end of the year as much,” Lyon said.

“Maybe sacrifice a little bit of revenue.”

Read: Full AFL 2019 fixture

Read: Clubs angered by footy draw

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett was among those to slam the fixture, saying the Hawks were dudded by their lack of exposure on prime time next year.

Hawthorn — who finished in the top four last year — didn’t get the call up for any of the eight Thursday night games scheduled for 2019 and has only one Friday night clash against Collingwood in Round 16.

In a letter to members, Kennett accused the AFL of not respecting what Hawthorn had contributed to the sport over the past decade.

“No draw is ever perfect for any team,” Kennett wrote. “However, we feel the 2019 fixture does not entirely respect our great club, what it has done for the AFL and our success over the last 11 years.”

He also backed Lyon’s assertion the season should be cut down to 17 home and away games.

Time to move AFL competition to 17 home games and finals to stop AFL manipulating the draw and attempting to pick winners. Last year they backed Carlton, abject failure, next year Essendon. Good luck Bombers otherwise heads should roll at AFL — Jeff Kennett (@jeff_kennett) November 1, 2018

While Kennett felt the Hawks were shafted, the AFL has listened to feedback from last year by banishing lowly Carlton and St Kilda from the prime-time fixture slots, while rewarding Collingwood and banking on Essendon.

AFL fixture boss Travis Auld was asked if the league might one day repeat this season’s disastrous experiment, where Carlton was given four Friday night games.

“Not based on the feedback we got, no,” Auld said. “There was strong feedback there.

“We owned some of that last year when we released the fixture — it was a series of reasons, why we ended up where we did.”

Carlton finished bottom this season and the Saints, who narrowly missed the top eight last year, plummeted to 16th.

St Kilda had three Friday night games this season — next year, between them, the only prime-time slot for either club will be Carlton’s now-traditional Thursday night season opener against Richmond.

Auld said the MCG clash always attracts bumper crowds and Carlton deserves it. He also smiled when asked if he felt the AFL had nailed next season’s fixture, saying he was “incredibly confident”.

“It’s always easy today,” he noted. “A fixture gets easier when you’ve got a Collingwood playing good football and you’ve got what looks like the re-emergence of Essendon coming through.”

Collingwood has a whopping seven Friday night games, two more than any other club, while Essendon has four despite dropping out of the top eight this season.

“When it’s a team like Collingwood — such a big club, such a big supporter base — you have to take advantage of that,” Auld said of the losing grand finalists. “There’s a lot of expectation around Essendon coming into next season and they’ve been rewarded.”

Fremantle and Gold Coast join the Saints as the only clubs without Thursday or Friday night games.

The league also took the unprecedented step of potentially swapping two round nine games, should Melbourne Victory loom as potential hosts of the A-League grand final.

The two floating round-nine games is a first for the AFL — usually, only round 23 is kept open.

Essendon’s Saturday night match against Fremantle will swap with Sunday’s Port Adelaide-Coast match should Victory host the A-League decider.

The AFL has scheduled Thursday night matches in each of the five opening rounds in 2019, and eight overall, in a move certain to please broadcasters. Richmond will play under lights on Thursday at the MCG in the opening two rounds against traditional rivals Carlton and Collingwood, and again in round 13 away to Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

West Coast will unfurl the 2018 premiership flag at Optus Stadium against GWS in round two before heading to the MCG for a rematch of the 2018 grand final against Collingwood.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

— The now-traditional Carlton v Richmond season opener at the MCG is on Thursday, March 21.

— The grand final is on September 28, with the timeslot yet to be confirmed.

— Adelaide, Brisbane, Essendon, Geelong, Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs all have one five-day break. As compensation, all have at least seven-day breaks before and at least nine-day breaks after.

— Two round-nine games could be swapped, depending on whether Melbourne Victory loom as potential A League grand final hosts. The games in question are Essendon v Fremantle on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium and Sunday’s Port Adelaide-Gold Coast match.

— West Coast will unfurl the premiership flag in round two against GWS — also captain Shannon Hurn’s 250th game.

— Round three will feature the grand final rematch at the MCG.

— Good Friday double header: North Melbourne v Essendon at Marvel Stadium from 4.20pm and West Coast v Port Adelaide from 8.10pm (AEST).

— Easter and Anzac Day through rounds five and six (April 18-28), with at least one game on 10 of the 11 days.

— with AAP