'B-grade competition': Icon's issue with Anzac games

AFL icon Leigh Matthews has identified a major conundrum for the sport's organisers as teams miss out on the blockbuster matches that come with Anzac Day.

Round seven of the competition kicked off with Richmond and Melbourne playing at the MCG on Anzac Day eve. Essendon and Collingwood then faced off in a blockbuster the following day at the same ground.

GWS and Brisbane also played on the Thursday, albeit at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

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Matthews believes this "emphasises the inequality of opportunity for individual players", describing it as "very uneven" on Nine's Footy Furnace.

"It started on the Wednesday night, Anzac eve, you know that Richmond will be playing Melbourne, and they'll be playing Melbourne the next year and the year after at the MCG.

"The following day you have Collingwood playing Essendon this year, next year and the year after that.

"Every year at this colosseum, the field of dreams (which) is just outstanding and players love to be involved.

"Then I turn on the TV to go to the Canberra game where the Giants were playing the Lions on Anzac night and you kind of thought if you didn't know your footy, you would've thought we were going to a venue for a B grade competition.

"It's so different than the MCG blockbuster."

Matthews also pointed to North Melbourne playing Adelaide in Hobart at the weekend along with the Suns at the Gold Coast against West Coast.

"These are very small venues, the players aren't getting that big buzz of playing at the big stadiums," he said.

"… When you get drafted you can be very lucky or very unlucky when you're talking about a quality of opportunity."

The premiership winning coach also flagged the inequality will continue when Tasmania joins as the 19th team along with a potential 20th side further down the track.

Despite the disappointment for various players throughout the AFL, Matthews can't see any way of it being fixed.

"There is no solution, it's just an unfortunate reality of the national competition and we've gone to 18 teams, now we might be going to 19, maybe then to 20 … what's the opposite of the blockbuster games? Because we'll have more of them."