SURGING interest in the NAB AFL Women's competition has the AFL considering a venue switch for the season opener between Collingwood and Carlton.
The traditional rivals are set to clash at Olympic Park, the Magpies' training ground, on Friday, February 3 to open the eight-team competition.
But given the level of hype surrounding the new competition and queries over Olympic Park's ability to cater adequately for a large crowd, AFL officials are weighing up a move to the Blues' home turf at Ikon Park.
AFL game and market development boss Simon Lethlean told Fairfax Media that the 22,000-seat capacity at Carlton's headquarters could tip the scales towards moving the game.
"It's now a bit of a concern about the potential crowd, having been at the Carlton-Melbourne practice match yesterday [at Ikon Park], there was 2000 people and it wasn't even publicised," he said.
"I think it means we're going to have a good discussion in terms of other potential options, whether Olympic Park is right for the first game now, maybe Ikon Park should be considered.
"There was 17,000 there last year for a NAB Challenge game [between Essendon and Carlton], maybe it's more appropriate. So we'll sit down and have a chat about that tomorrow and make a call.
"I think the publicity now and the momentum and the interest might mean we have a good look at that.
"We don't want to be turning too many people away if we can help it, so if it's going to be 10,000 [in attendance] and not 5000 we'll have a good look at what the best venue might be and we can still make some changes if we need to."
Despite the last-minute discussions surrounding the Collingwood-Carlton season opener, Lethlean said a venue switch wouldn't could too many headaches, other than making sure the ground had the capacity to hold a night fixture.
Lethlean also denied there were concerns about the Olympic Park surface after Carlton chief Steven Trigg questioned the ground's suitability.
"That's not part of the decision," he said.
"Collingwood train there every day and they wouldn't have their athletes use it if there were issues. It's not pristine like the MCG or Etihad but it's certainly fine."
Trigg's comments came after Collingwood midfielder Taylor Adams also admitted on Thursday that the players had raised their concerns about the surface late last year.
- with AAP
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