The AFL released the fixtures for Rounds 9 and 10 as the 2021 season continues to be sorted in blocks.
Round 9 kicks off on May 14 with St Kilda v Geelong at Marvel Stadium on Friday night with arguably the match of the round between Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs to take place at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
In response to this decision, Kane Cornes has again questioned the “Victorian-centric nature” of the AFL for scheduling the Saints and Cats in prime time when the Power v Dogs clash appears a much more mouthwatering prospect.
“Port Adelaide are going to take on the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval on 7:40 on the Saturday night,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“What a matchup that would be, but unbelievably that game hasn’t been given Friday night status.
“I cannot understand how you could look at that fixture, and the footy the Bulldogs and Port Adelaide are playing, and why that wouldn’t be a home game at Adelaide Oval on Friday night?
“They’ve gone with St Kilda and Geelong at Marvel on the Friday night.
“The Victorian-centric nature of the AFL sometimes rears its ugly head and once again that has happened.
“How you could not schedule that on Friday night is amazing.”
In the wake of St Kilda’s 86-pint drubbing at the hands of Richmond last Thursday, Cornes was critical of the Saints.
He said last week: “Thank goodness for the rolling fixture. That’s the last time we will have to put up with watching St Kilda in a prime time slot this year.”
So it was nothing short of a surprise to the Power games record holder when the Saints were handed another premium slot in the form of a standalone Friday night game.
“There’s a floating fixture for a reason. I would have understood if this was locked in prior to the start of the year like it used to be,” he added.
“We all saw what St Kilda did last year. They played an attacking style, they won a final, and you get rewarded for that.
“When you serve up what you served up so far to start the season, particularly in the prime time games like they did last Thursday against Richmond, game over by quarter-time, no one wants to see that.
“The teams that aren’t doing it and are playing the right way should be rewarded regardless of their status, their crowds, their history. It doesn’t make any sense.”
There are three matches at Marvel Stadium in Round 9, including St Kilda v Geelong on Friday night, Richmond v GWS on Saturday night and Essendon v Fremantle on Sunday.
The Port v Dogs match is the only Adelaide Oval fixture that weekend.
The next fortnightly fixture block was released on Thursday morning with the Saints v Cats the Round 9 Friday fixture and Brisbane v Richmond the Round 10 prime time game.