The AFL has today confirmed the key dates for the 2024 Smithy’s VFL season.

The competition will commence on the weekend of March 23-24, aligning with Round Two of the 2024 Toyota AFL Premiership season.

The 2024 VFL home and away season will consist of 21 rounds, with all teams to play 18 matches.

The same 21 teams from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland who competed in 2023 will again feature in the competition.

A league-wide bye will be scheduled across the weekend of April 6-7 when the VFL plays the SANFL in a representative clash in Adelaide during the AFL Gather Round weekend.

It will be the VFL’s first representative game since 2017 and the first time the VFL has played the SANFL since 2016.

The season will again feature a Wildcard Round and will take place at the conclusion of the VFL home and away season.

Wildcard Round will be played on the weekend of August 24-25 with the seventh placed team on the ladder playing against the team that finishes tenth, while eighth will take on ninth.

The two Wildcard Round winners will advance to the 2024 VFL Finals Series.

The opening weekend of the 2024 Finals Series, featuring the qualifying and elimination finals, will be played during the AFL pre-finals bye.

The 2024 Smithy’s VFL Grand Final is scheduled to be played on Sunday, September 22, the weekend before the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final.