AFL Rd 2 - St Kilda v Western Bulldogs
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 14: Dan Hannebery of the Saints celebrates after scoring a goal during the round 3 AFL match between the St Kilda Saints and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on June 14, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Sunday night football was a big focus of the new fixture, and it could be here to stay.

Questions remain as to whether Sunday night will work when crowds return, but in the lockdown era it worked a treat.

Crowds have been poor in previous years when Sunday night fixtures have arisen, but TV audiences last night were through the roof.

St Kilda’s win over the Western Bulldogs was watched by 219,000 people on Fox Footy, making it the sixth game to rate over 200,000 on pay TV throughout the weekend.

The corresponding game in July last year between the two, which was also broadcast on Fox Footy drew a TV audience of just 152,000.

The highest rating game of the round on Fox Footy was on Thursday night, when a 342,000 fans tuned in for footy's return.

284,000 people watched Geelong’s win over Hawthorn on Friday night, while 255,000 tuned in to see Essendon beating Sydney on Sunday afternoon.

Gerard Wheatley says while fans are locked out of venues, it makes sense to keep going with the Sunday night time slot.

“The twilight game is slightly easier to manage I’m sure with the hours (to attend),” Gerard said on SEN’s Whateley.

“I don’t like the games climbing all over each other, I think if there’s the capacity (to schedule games without a clash), and there is now because of the shortened (quarters) and because it’s mainly a TV product…I think it’s a really good start.

“We’ll see where we end up.”