Q: Context: The 2018 Australian Football League season is the 122nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition. There are 18 teams competing in the league, the same as the previous six seasons. The first game was played on Thursday, 22 March, and the season is scheduled to conclude with the 2018 AFL Grand Final on Saturday, 29 September.

Question: when is the start of the afl season? Let's give stream of consciousness first:
The relevant sentence in the passage is: The first game was played on Thursday, 22 March, and the season is scheduled to conclude with the 2018 AFL Grand Final on Saturday, 29 September. Therefore, the final answer is Thursday , 22 March.