The AFL has agreed to a request from the Fremantle Dockers to amend the starting time for the club’s opening game in round two at Perth Stadium against Essendon to 5.10pm (WST).

When the AFL released the fixture for the 2018 season on Tuesday the game was scheduled for 4.40pm (WST) on Saturday 31 March.

After a submission from Fremantle, the AFL agreed to push back the start time for the game by 30 minutes, with bounce down now at 5.10pm (WST) on the same day.

Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich said the club was pleased that the AFL had agreed to the time change.

“Satisfying the needs of all stakeholders always provides a range of challenges for the AFL in shaping the fixture each year and, in this instance, factors such as TV broadcast times and a three hour time difference due to day light saving in the Eastern States were in play in the original fixture,” Rosich said.

“The time change approved by the league pushes the game into the early evening time slot, which is good news for our members and supporters and provides the club with an opportunity to showcase our opening home game as the first AFL match under lights at the new stadium.”

FREMANTLE'S 2018 HOME AND AWAY FIXTURE