Gold Coast's AFL match against Essendon - postponed due to Cyclone Alfred - has been rescheduled to the final round of the home-and-away season.
The AFL on Thursday announced the match, which had been set to take place this Saturday at People First Stadium, had been wedged into round 24, meaning the Suns and Bombers will close the season having to play two games just days apart.
Gold Coast are scheduled to play Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval in round 24, while the Bombers meet Carlton at the MCG.
The AFL is yet to lock in dates and times for any games in rounds 15 to 24 as part of the floating fixture.
Gold Coast and Essendon could now end up playing each other during the week - days before their previously scheduled games - or even into the pre-finals bye window.
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"When looking at the rescheduling of these matches we had a focus on having the least amount of disruption on the competition, ensuring that all clubs still have a mid-season bye and managing travel arrangements across the season - particularly for the four impacted clubs," AFL boss Andrew Dillon said.
The Brisbane Lions, who were set to unveil their first premiership flag in 21 years on Thursday night, will instead host Geelong at the Gabba on March 29, starting at 6.35 pm local time.
Brisbane and Geelong were due to have a bye in round three, creating an easier window to reschedule than the Suns and Bombers, who don't have a break on the same weekend this season.
The two Queensland teams trained on Wednesday, but all Lions and Suns players are now sheltering at home in anticipation of the wild weather to come.
Some 20,000 properties in the Brisbane area face flooding as the category-two storm is expected to make landfall in southeast Queensland on Friday.
