The AFL today announced it had finalised the fixture for round 23 of the 2014 Toyota AFL Premiership season, which had been left as a floating round when the fixture was announced late last year.

The schedule of games will be as follows (local time and host broadcaster in each case):

Friday August 29

Collingwood v Hawthorn at the MCG, 7.50pm (Channel 7)

Saturday August 30

Carlton v Essendon at the MCG, 1.45pm (Channel 7)

Fremantle v Port Adelaide at Patersons Stadium, 1.10pm (Foxtel / Fox Sports)

Sydney Swans v Richmond at ANZ Stadium, 4.40pm (Foxtel / Fox Sports)

Geelong Cats v Brisbane Lions at Simonds Stadium, 7.40pm (Channel 7)

North Melbourne v Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, 7.40pm (Foxtel / Fox Sports)

Sunday August 31

Gold Coast Suns v West Coast Eagles at Metricon Stadium, 1.10pm (Foxtel / Fox Sports)

Adelaide Crows v St Kilda at Adelaide Oval, 2.50pm (Channel 7)

Western Bulldogs v GWS Giants at Etihad Stadium, 4.40pm (Foxtel / Fox Sports)

It was the AFL’s view that the Collingwood v Hawthorn match should be scheduled on the Friday night as this was the only game in round 23 whereby a current top-four side was able to be fixtured for that night, and preference needed to be given to higher-ranked sides on the ladder.

All of the other round 23 games involving current top-four sides (Sydney Swans v Richmond, Geelong Cats v Brisbane Lions and Fremantle v Port Adelaide) were not able to be scheduled for the Friday night as each match-up involved a team that had played on the Sunday of round 22, and would have only had a five-day break before playing on Friday August 29.

All three of these remaining matches involving current top-four sides were therefore scheduled on Saturday August 30, with the Fremantle/Port Adelaide match played as a day game at Patersons Stadium to allow the visiting Power to return home to South Australia that night.

The remaining two Saturday match slots were determined to be North Melbourne v Melbourne and Essendon v Carlton as those games involved sides currently higher on the ladder (North Melbourne and Essendon) chasing a finals berth, of those teams seeking to win a position in the lower part of the top eight.

The one match scheduled for Sunday August 31 that features a team currently in the top eight at this point of the season (Adelaide Crows v St Kilda) was placed on Sunday as Adelaide was playing in its home state and was not required to travel, with fixture preference for Saturday matches to those teams higher on the ladder.

The schedule for week one of the 2014 Toyota AFL Finals Series will be announced on either Saturday night August 30, following the completion of the Saturday night matches, or on Sunday August 31, once week one match-ups are known.

A pdf page of the Round 23 fixture is attached.