THE AFL has again pleaded with the Victorian Government and Cricket Victoria to make the MCG available for football a week earlier, describing the situation as a 'significant' priority.
Cricket has contractual rights to the MCG each year between October 1 and March 31, in a deal that runs until 2019.
The League has been desperate to gain access to the ground early in order to give its players a second bye during the season.
To download a pdf version of the 2013 fixture, click here.
But because the MCG is the only ground able to host the Sheffield Shield final should Victoria qualify, Cricket Victoria has not been prepared to budge on its contract.
AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said he hoped the issue could be resolved in time for the creation of the 2014 fixture.
"Ideally we'd play the full round [one] on the weekend of March 22, and give our players two byes," McLachlan said at a 2013 AFL fixture briefing on Tuesday.
"[It's a] significant [priority]; our players are crying out for a rest.
"In the discussions we have with them (the players), it's priority one, two and three for them.
"We've gone out to Cricket [Victoria] and the government, saying we'll set this in stone for some period of time; we'll play 22 rounds in the season, with two [byes].
"We're clear about what we want and why we want to do it.
"We've made commitments around that to them.
"So we can't be more transparent than that."
McLachlan said he understood the reasons for Cricket Victoria's unwillingness to bend.
"But I guess we're looking for constructive solutions," he said.
Cricket Victoria CEO Tony Dodemaide said Cricket Victoria's position remained unchanged and only a decision to develop a first class cricket venue at the Junction Oval would resolve the issue.
Dodemaide said that while such a proposal to redevelop Junction Oval was with the State Government for consideration, as reported last week in the Herald Sun, any decision was still months away.
"This has been our perfect solution on a number of levels and until we have that alternative we have not got anywhere to move," Dodemaide said. "It is as simple as that."
The AFL Players' Association reacted angrily earlier this year when it learned there would not be two byes in next season's fixture.
It also expressed disbelief that the MCG would only have two days to prepare the ground for the AFL's season opener if Victoria - who currently sits top of the table - hosted this season's Sheffield Shield Final.
The League said it had been impossible to schedule a full round over the March 22 weekend with the MCG, SCG and Gabba all unavailable.
Instead, the AFL hassplit round one over two weeks, with Adelaide hosting Essendon and West Coast facing Fremantle in a local derby in week one, before the first MCG match, an Easter Thursday clash between Carlton and Richmond, the following week.
