THE AFL has backed a move by Channel Seven to screen Monday night's Richmond-Melbourne Anzac Day eve clash on one of its secondary channels.

Seven will show the game on 7Mate, leaving its main channel for the popular My Kitchen Rules, which is entering its grand final week.

MKR is one of Seven's biggest rating shows, and last Monday it was watched by 1.65 million viewers across Australia, so for one evening, rare as it is, the AFL is content to play second fiddle.

"We're across it and we understand that this is a show that is very important to Seven," said AFL spokesman Patrick Keane.

"This is part of working in partnership with a broadcaster and we're supportive of them."

Seven's six-year broadcasting agreement with the AFL calls for all games telecast into Victoria to be shown in HD, and Seven has agreed to switch on its HD signal for 7Mate in order to show the game.

7Mate is the regular free-to-air broadcaster of AFL games into New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, while games were also shown in Victoria on the secondary broadcaster last year during the Rio Olympic Games.

A crowd of more than 70,000 is expected at the game featuring the unbeaten Tigers and the resurgent Demons.

It is the only Monday night game for the season and will be preceded by a ceremony the two clubs have conceived that draws a clear distinction with the gigantic Essendon-Collingwood match the following afternoon.

The Demons have no issue with the game being on 7Mate, with a spokesman telling AFL.com.au they will be satisfied "as long as our supporters can see the game on free-to-air TV".

The match will also be shown live on the AFL Live app and on Fox Footy. 7mate is also available on Channel 188 on Foxtel. Seven will also show a full replay of the game at noon on Tuesday on its main channel as a lead-in to the Essendon-Collingwood game.