Collingwood President Eddie McGuire has made the stunning revelation that the AFL Grand Final could be played on the Sunday night after the VRC Derby, with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan not dismissing the idea.

McGuire stated the time slot change would see the Grand Final played on Sunday November 1, after Derby Day and two days before the Melbourne Cup.

With the AFL decider currently slated for October 24, the same day as the Cox Plate, a bye would likely need to added to overcome Western Australian and South Australian border restrictions which would push the Grand Final back a week.

Sports Minister Martin Paluka has thrown support behind the idea, stating the VRC Derby and Grand Final "won't go head to head", while McGuire has said the idea has already been "discussed in high places".

“You know how people’s heads have exploded because we’ve mentioned that we may play this year’s Grand Final at night … how about if I told you we might play it on a Sunday night?” McGuire said on Triple M's Hot Breakfast on Tuesday morning.

“If Victorian clubs are required to go to a hub in Western Australia and for that matter New South Wales clubs, if they have to go up there and they have to quarantine for two weeks … but there is a break of one week if you time it out, so it would mean we need to get a bye in there somewhere so that means instead of playing on the Cox Plate weekend we would have to play the Grand Final on Derby weekend."

“... We’d have the Saturday Derby, Sunday afternoon or Sunday night Grand Final, Monday the Grand Final public holiday to get over the Grand Final and have the two days into Melbourne Cup, Tuesday Melbourne Cup and another public holiday, Oaks Day on Thursday, Saturday Stakes Day.”

Speaking on SEN on Tuesday, McLachlan said he was open to a Sunday Grand Final.

“If you had the flexibility and I’m not saying, I haven’t even talked to the AFL Commission about this, just having an open conversation, we wouldn’t run it against the Derby, that’s not helpful but you’ve got Sunday,” McLachlan told SEN.

“What happens if it is a public holiday Monday? I don’t know. There are some grown up conversations to have but I think everyone is in the right mindplace.

“It is a great four days of sport.”

McLachlan also stated that the AFL is looking to avoid clashes with the Victorian spring racing carnival.

“We got to work with other sports and we’ll do that generally,” McLachlan said.

“We’re allies and friends, footy and racing, and we don’t need to be running over the top (of each other) it doesn’t work for either of us let alone them and we can work around it.

“We will do everything we can to work around that (clash with major race days) and that includes all the finals but the bigger stuff, the preliminary finals and Grand Final.

“It’s that sort of year and we can work around that. We can make it work, I feel very confident about that.”

This comes as McLachlan expressed his hope for a full 100,000 people at the MCG for the AFL Grand Final during an interview on afl.com.au

“I still haven’t ruled out – I love the thought of a full Grand Final,” McLachlan said.Mc

“You’ve got to be ready, you’ve got to dream, but we’ve got to do it in a way that works in with where our governments are and our communities.

“It’s an ambition (100,000 fans on Grand Final Day).”