St Kilda’s return to prime-time footy has been fast-tracked, with the club’s Round 5 clash against Carlton rescheduled to Thursday night at Marvel Stadium.

The Saints were originally slated to meet the Blues on Saturday, 4 July at the MCG at 1:45, but will now prepare for a Thursday night blockbuster under the roof.

The change comes amid altered fly-in, fly-out exemptions for Victorian teams by the Queensland Government, which have impacted the location and time of the West Coast v Richmond clash, originally set to be played at Metricon Stadium this Thursday.

Richmond will instead face Melbourne on Sunday at the MCG, while West Coast will go head-to-head with Sydney on Saturday at Metricon Stadium.

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Chief Operating Officer Simon Lethlean said the club was embracing the change in fixture.

“Our players and coaches were excited when we shared the news this morning and we will certainly be ready to go on Thursday night,” Lethlean said.

For the Saints to be playing in a key time slot in what is a big game against the Blues is something we are really looking forward to.

- Simon Lethlean

“It obviously changes our training schedule this week, but given we were preparing for a shorter break between Round 5 and 6, we were able to quickly reorganise things this morning.

“We have spoken often as a group about the need to be disciplined and agile with so much uncertainty in this year’s fixture, and this is just another example of a challenge we will embrace.”

St Kilda will face Carlton on Thursday, 2 July at Marvel Stadium at 7:40pm, with the match televised on Channel 7 and Fox Footy.