FRIDAY night football at Simonds Stadium is back on the agenda, with the AFL set to seriously consider a prime-time match in Geelong next year.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and chairman Mike Fitzpatrick attended Saturday night’s match against Sydney and were impressed with the venue’s ability to showcase blockbuster games.

The Cats have requested four night matches at Simonds Stadium next year as part of their vision to make better use of the multimillion-dollar lights.

The venue has hosted only one Friday night match since the four light towers were installed for the 2013 season — Round 10 last year against North Melbourne, attended by 27,402.

“The AFL is currently in the process of seeking club and venue feedback from all key stakeholders regarding the production of the 2016 AFL fixture,” AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said yesterday.

“Simon Lethlean, the AFL executive responsible for next year’s fixture, will assess all those requests on their merits, but Simonds Stadium is a high-quality venue to consider as a host for any premium Friday night match.

“(And) the Geelong Cats have consistently been a benchmark team to watch over the last decade.”

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Geelong has submitted its 2016 fixture wishes to the AFL, asking for eight matches at its home ground despite the reduced capacity when stage-four works take place.

Once the rebuild of the Brownlow and Jennings stands is complete in 2017, bumping capacity to 36,500, Geelong wants nine matches a season at Simonds Stadium, including some blockbusters against the big Melbourne clubs.

media_camera Adam Goodes and Jake Kolodjashnij

Only Collingwood and Hawthorn would not be in contention to play matches down the highway.

“We have requested four day and four night games at Simonds next year, as we believe this is the correct formulae for Simonds,” Geelong chief executive Brian Cook said.

“It opens up our club to different markets of people.”

Geelong budgeted for a sellout against the Swans on Saturday night and got one, after a year of underwhelming home crowd figures.

But the stadium was still several thousand short of the 33,000 capacity, owing to the reserved ticket holders who failed to show up.

“We were proud of our supporters and how they treated (Adam) Goodes with respect and also how they loudly and proudly supported the Cats,” Cook said.

D-Day on whether Geelong council votes in favour of contributing the final $6 million needed for stage-four works to begin is a fortnight away.

“The City of Geelong has done a magnificent job of supporting the redevelopment work at Simonds Stadium and their ongoing commitment to the ground as a regional hub is greatly appreciated by the AFL and the Geelong Cats,” Keane said.