Gillon McLachlan has all but guaranteed North Melbourne another Friday night game.
Speaking on Footy Classified, the AFL CEO said the Roos and Tigers would be the sensible suitors for the final blockbuster time-slot of the home and away season in Round 23.
"I think Fremantle are travelling back and so there is a potential that they travel back with a days less break than Hawthorn so if you were fair you'd put the four teams on the Saturday and put Richmond-North Melbourne on the Friday night," he said.
There were fears that the game might be given to Hawthorn and Carlton - the last time the sides met the Hawks smashed the Blues by a whopping 138-points and was the heaviest defeat in their history.
"The issue with Hawthorn-Carlton if you play them on the Friday night is that teams ranked above them and you can only make the decision now but it's hard to see (West Coast and Fremantle) they look pretty strong now and they would get less break particularly, McLachlan said.
While the notion of a double-header has been discussed, McLachlan said it would be too difficult to achieve.
"There's challenges with that (double-header Friday night)," McLachlan said.
The league boss said the match was still to be locked in, but suggested a Tigers-Roos clash at Etihad Stadium would be the best solution and would give all teams featuring in the finals an appropriate break.
"In the end if you played Richmond-North on the Friday night it means that as we sit here today, the top four teams then play on the Saturday."
The floating fixture in Round 23 is Richmond's home game after North hosted the first match-up of the year in Hobart.