THE AFL last night announced it had resolved a number of key matters around fixture equity as the construction of the 2013 fixture progressed.

For Port Adelaide, that means we'll finish the 2013 season at home, having travelled in Round 23 this year. The final round will once again be a floating fixture.

As a non-finalist, we'll be scheduled to have a maximum of two return meetings with top eight sides from 2012 - Adelaide and one other finalist.

The 2013 fixture will follow the 2012 model of 23 rounds for each club to play 22 games - 11 home and 11 away.

[ Related: Away start for 2013 ]

General Manager of Broadcasting at the AFL, Simon Lethlean also announced the top four teams from 2012 (Sydney, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Adelaide) would all only play the bottom four teams from 2012 (GWS, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Western Bulldogs) on one occasion in 2013, with the single exception of the Swans/Giants cross-town rivalry.

"A standard round, as part of our agreement with the Seven Network and Foxtel/FOX FOOTY, will continue to feature one Friday night match, two Saturday afternoon matches, one Saturday twilight match, two Saturday night matches, one early Sunday match, one Sunday afternoon match and one Sunday twilight match,” Mr Lethlean said.

The AFL will play four Thursday matches in 2013 across Round One, Anzac Day Round (two matches on Thursday April 25) and Round 14, along with two Monday night matches in Round Seven (Melbourne) and Round 10 (Perth) respectively.

The South Australian (Port Adelaide) and West Australian (West Coast) clubs that travelled in round 23, 2012, will be fixtured to be at home in the final round in 2013 while the final round will again be listed as a ‘floating round’, to enable the best-possible fixture options for the AFL in the lead-up to finals.

“For the period where clubs have their byes between rounds 11-13, the AFL will again schedule three rounds of six matches to provide as much continuity as possible for fans, and with the goal of a team from each state competing in a match in each week through that period," Mr Lethlean said.

PAFC Fixture - what we know so far
- Round 1 - away from home on Easter weekend (Thursday 28 March - Monday 1 April)
- Round 23 - at AAMI Stadium (final home and away match at AAMI Stadium)
- Scheduled to play a maximum of two finalists twice (Adelaide and one other)