Local authorities have carefully planned a crowd-favourite “buses replacing trains” period for this weekend’s opening round of AFL footy, with fans from all over the Diamond Valley excited about the chance to catch multiple modes of transport in the coming days. The genius strategy commences on literally the first game of the season, Carlton vs Richmond at the MCG tonight, and proceeds until the end of the round with Essendon vs Hawthorn on Sunday.

According to one local footy fan, the seemingly odd approach actually makes sense. Ben Flanagan told The Watsonia Bugle, “Yeah, look, it’s fair enough. I mean, they’ve only had 10 or 11 footy-free weekends so far this year. And they only had about 13 at the end of last year. This seems unavoidable. I completely understand why they’re doing this.”

However, not all fans were as forgiving and understanding. When told about the inconvenient timing of the trainline closure, one anonymous Collingwood fan said, “What do youse mean they’re shutting the trains on Friday night? Are youse for real? How are me and the fam gonna get to the G now? This is bullshit!”

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