The daytime blockbuster is back in favour after the AFL’s controversial fixturing experiments proved an overall flop.

While Thursday night football is proving a winner, next season will feature no Sunday night or Monday night games.

After tinkering with those timeslots ahead of the new broadcast rights agreement in 2016, the AFL is trumpeting next year’s fixture as one for the fans.

AFL officials were left red-faced in round 15 when only 40,939 fans attended the Sunday night match between arch rivals Carlton and Collingwood.

The league admitted well before Thursday’s fixture announcement that the more radical elements of its draw would be scaled back or scrapped.

And that will mean a renewed focus on weekend afternoon matches in Victoria – the number rising from 34 this season to 47 in 2015.

The Magpies and Blues will play one of those games, in round 19.

Another will be Carlton v Essendon – although next year will be the first time since 1992 that two of the league’s fiercest rivals only clash once in a season outside the finals.

“We’ve done a helluva lot of work to understand clearly where we made mistakes,” said AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan.

“We’ve been listening and I’m really pleased with our fixture.”

The season will open on Easter Thursday night, April 2, when Carlton and Richmond clash at the MCG.

Cricket’s World Cup means the season starts a week later than usual.

There will also be only one bye and no grand final on the last Saturday in September – next year’s premiership decider will be on October 3.

The reaction so far had been generally positive to the fixture, with no clubs raising major concerns.

Essendon and Geelong appear to have two of the tougher schedules.

While Richmond have seven of the high-profile Friday night timeslots and Carlton have six, the Bombers only have two.

In a fixturing oddity, the only Friday night games for Essendon and North Melbourne are against each other.

As the Bombers continue to deal with their supplements scandal, they learned on Thursday that next season will open with games against last year’s grand finalists.

They also have two Perth trips in the first half of the season.

The Cats appear hardest done by in the AFL’s grouping of teams, which will be in use for the second year.

Under the system, the 18 teams are put in three groups of six, depending on their ladder positions.

Of the top group, Geelong are the only team who play three others twice.

They are also the only top-six team who do not play any bottom-six team twice.

Also in next year’s fixture:

* Premiers Hawthorn and Sydney will have their grand final rematch in round eight.

* There will be four-straight Thursday night games between rounds 12-15.

* Five games on Anzac Day, which is a Saturday.

* Carlton coach Mick Malthouse has chosen his old club Collingwood as the opponent for round five, when he breaks the all-time coaching record of 714 matches set by Magpies legend Jock McHale.

* Saturday night matches on the eastern seaboard will start at 7.20, not 7.40.

* Seven matches in Tasmania, with North hosting three in Hobart.

* Still no Good Friday game.