Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said the club had expected to be playing their final on a Friday. "We had assumed and had told our people internally to plan around a Friday night final based on history and the fact Thursday lent itself to an interstate game," Gale said. "I had assumed we would be Friday night and we were surprised to be scheduled for a Thursday night final. "From a football point of view it is no different, but it is going to make it hard, with strong regional support and families, for many of our members to attend. "It will stil be well supported but it makes it that much harder for families."

The AFL revealed the week one fixture of the finals on Sunday night, opting to open with the Tigers and Hawks on Thursday night, followed by the Melbourne-Geelong elimination final on Friday night at the MCG, the Sydney derby elimination final on Saturday afternoon at the SCG, and the West Coast-Collingwood qualifying final on Saturday night at Perth's Optus Stadium. Kennett said it would be extremely difficult for families to go to their final, and that the fixture on a Thursday night "does make it tough". “The AFL are in control of this, we have no say in real terms as you appreciate,” Kennett said on SEN on Monday morning. Toby Nankervis and Ben McEvoy go head-to-head. Credit:AAP

“We not going to satisfy our members, Richmond and Hawthorn, we are not going to satisfy our membership requirements. I am cognisant of our membership. Loading "It’s going to be very hard for a lot of families, younger people to attend the ground because of the hour and the fact of Thursday night. “It’s almost impossible for any of our 10,000 members from Tasmania to come across, let alone our other 10-15,000 around the country. “Putting it at night and particularly on a Thursday night is very, very hard for a lot of those who might wish to be there.

“Putting the interests of our shareholders, our stakeholders, our members first, it does make it tough. We have no say in that. “There is no point me complaining, I’m just stating the reality that it does eliminate, not just ours, but a lot of Richmond supporters from even contemplating being there.” This will be the first time that Richmond and Hawthorn have played in a final. Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said he was happy with te fixture. "I think you get a different perspective from a player and coaching point of view than you might get from a chairman of a footy club," said Clarkson.

AFL executive Travis Auld said the difference in crowd from Richmond Hawthorn being Thursday not Friday night was minimal. He said the rationale for the scheduling of Richmond-Hawthorn on Thursday was to minimise the disparity in breaks between teams in week two of the finals. If Collingwood and West Coast played Thursday night as many had expected then the loser would have had two days' extra break on the winner of the Sydney-GWS elimination final. "The reason we chose Richmond-Hawthorn over West Coast-Collingwood is equity in days' break. It's as simple as that," Auld said. There were no Sunday finals scheduled this year. In week two there will be Friday and Saturday night semi-finals and the AFL prefers to minimise six-day breaks in finals so there is a preference not to play Sunday finals. There would have been a Sunday final this year had four Victorian teams earned the right to host a final.