After a few years of middling Mother's Day attendances, the AFL tweaked the feature so that no games would be played in Melbourne on the second Sunday in May.

That the games had traditionally featured Melbourne and a non-Victorian club didn't help the cause, but sub-20,000 crowds on Mother's Day at the cavernous MCG made the decision easy for the AFL.

So for the last two years, instead of a Mother's Day game in Melbourne on the Sunday, we get a Monday night game instead.

But what looked tasty on paper when the schedule was released last October now doesn't look quite as appetising.

The only decent game on Sunday is Geelong and Sydney at Skilled Stadium, with a 1pm start and no free-to-air TV coverage in Victoria. And the Monday night game, which everyone will get to see features the AFL's scheduling lovechild - the Saints - and their crushingly boring style of play that we're stuck with, at least until Nick Riewoldt returns to the team later in the year.

The Cats and the the Swans will pack out Skilled Stadium, but given it is the game of the round, the shame is not a lot more people will see it either in the flesh or on TV.

You would think more than 40,000 would watch the game if it was at Etihad, and perhaps another 10,000 again if it was at the MCG, for a match with so many attractive storylines. Even on Mother's Day.

You have the return of Matthew Scarlett and Gary Ablett to the Geelong side, the former an important addition to a backline that will need to deal with the revitalised Sydney full-forward Daniel Bradshaw.

Also making a return to Geelong is Shane Mumford, this time in a Sydney jumper. Mumford was a highly-regarded back-up ruckman with the Cats, who couldn't resist the million-dollar carrot offered by the Swans. When asked to comment on Mumford's departure, the usually amiable Geelong coach Mark Thompson, made his disappointment very clear.

The Cats could surely have used Mumford this week given news that Brad Ottens will miss the next six weeks because of a stress fracture in his foot. Dawson Simpson, your time is now.

Not that the Swans are going brilliantly in the big man department, either. Fellow ruck import Mark Seaby busted his ankle at the opening bounce against Brisbane last week and will be out for up to four months. Paul Roos must decide whether to throw Jesse White into the ruck with Mumford, or elevate the former Canadian rugby international Mike Pyke off the rookie list. It's a tough call, because White and Bradshaw would pose match-up problems for the Geelong defence if left two-out up forward.

With five straight wins, the Swans are the form team of the competition, but this is easily their biggest test of the season so far. The shame is not many people will get to see it.

The Monday night game is also important. The Blues need a win to stay in touch, the Saints to remain on top of the ladder. Had it featured Nick Riewoldt and Chris Judd on the same field, it would have made for compulsive viewing.

The Saints should not have to apologise for their brand of footy. Four points is four points, no matter how it is achieved.

But this Monday night game is of critically strategic importance to the AFL, in terms of attendance and ratings. From 2012, the league needs to slot an extra game into the schedule each week to accommodate the two new clubs, and Monday nights are in the mix along with Thursday nights and perhaps a Saturday twilight timeslot. This week's game was pencilled in as the definitive Monday night litmus test,

If the Saints are going to bore people into switching channels with their 18-man defensive flood, then the figures on Monday night aren't going to stack up well against other potential timeslots.

You'd think if the AFL was in a position to so, it might have arranged a very late swap, and put Gary Ablett, Adam Goodes, Steve Johnson and Daniel Bradshaw into prime time.