The AFL is considering playing round one away from the sport’s spiritual home as it aims to start next season by the middle of March.

League chief executive Andrew Demetriou has already declared his intent to wind back the season opener, to ensure his code starts at a similar date to the NRL.

It’s understood one well-supported proposal is a split round over two weeks, during which the MCG, SCG, Gabba, Bellerive and the redeveloped Adelaide Oval would be unavailable due to cricket commitments.

The league used a similar model this year, but the second week of round one contained two MCG blockbusters.

Under the proposal, high-profile fixtures such as Carlton versus Richmond, and Geelong against Hawthorn, would be saved for later in the year.

Instead the likes of Greater Western Sydney, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast would be given a greater share of the early spotlight.

“I think we’ve said this to the AFL for a few years,” Swans chief executive Andrew Ireland said of the suggested change, adding the AFL should make it a 24-week season.

“It is very difficult in the northern markets where rugby league, Super 15 and now the end of the A-League season are overlapping.

“It’s very difficult when you’re playing NAB Cup and practice matches to break into the psyche of sports fans.

“If the competition could start a couple weeks earlier, we’ve said for a while a 24-week season and no NAB Cup would make sense.

“I think it’s interesting that Andrew (Demetriou) is looking at something like that.

“If the players were given a bigger break in the off-season. There’s every chance to play a 24-week season.”

The shift would coincide with GWS’s push to start their campaign at the Showground Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park.

Sydney’s Royal Easter Show means the Giants are in the midst of five consecutive games outside Sydney.

Their season-opening derby fixture against Sydney drew a crowd of 23,690 – which was sparse at the cavernous ANZ Stadium but would have meant almost a packed house at the Showground.

“We need to get games at Skoda as early as possible,” GWS coach Kevin Sheedy said.

Sheedy would also like the AFL to sway from the Sydney derby being his club’s season opener, as it has been in their two years of existence.

“I’d rather play one of the big Melbourne clubs and I reckon it’d be exciting next year if we play Sydney at the SCG in round three when everyone’s back from Easter.”