AFL news: Gillon McLachlan speaks on AFL Grand Final time and the big issues at SportNXT conference
A twilight Grand Final is back on the agenda – but do the numbers really support the push? AFL chief Gillon McLachlan opens up on the league’s pending decision.
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The AFL’s football executive will prepare a report on a twilight grand final that will not be decided upon until May’s Commission meeting.
The league is again conditioning the market for a potential later start but, after a strong campaign last year, decided on a traditional 2.30pm timeslot.
While AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said a decision would be made “in the coming weeks”, the league does not have an April commission meeting.
While host broadcaster Seven is desperate for a later start to the grand final, the picture is muddied by the most recent day grand finals being woefully one-sided events.
Richmond beat GWS by 89 points in 2019 and last year Geelong beat Sydney by 81 points, with the 2022 game drawing an average of 3.06 million viewers.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan agreed in March the twilight preliminary final was the best presentation of the AFL and said of a later start: ““I have noticed that (twilight) view becoming more prevalent in recent times”.
McLachlan said on Wednesday that the case would need to be utterly convincing in order to snub tradition.
“You have to be convinced that the audience is there. We had, effectively, two night Grand Finals – out of Brisbane (in 2020) and the way the timezone worked, it was twilight that went into night in Perth (in 2021),” he told the SportNXT conference in Melbourne.
“The audience wasn’t that much (bigger) … you’re trying to manage progression, and bringing the market with you.
“It’s just important to people, that day slot.
“But I feel … the presentation we know could be better (by being at night). So you have to manage the whole journey and bringing people with you, and make sure that what you go to is actually so much better that people understand why you made the decision.
“There’s a lot of work going in on that. I’m sure the commission will make a decision in the next few weeks for this year.”
While patrons will have to wait until round 8 at the earliest for a decision on the grand final, the AFL commission is prepared to come together earlier for a decision on McLachlan’s replacement.
The entire commission has been involved in interviews with candidates, which are expected to again be narrowed to a short list of two or three contenders.
AFL commission boss Richard Goyder said recently if an internal candidate was chosen the handover after the round 5 Gather Round could be made more quickly.
But he said an external candidate might need some time to give notice to their own organisation, which might delay McLachlan’s departure.
GRAND FINAL CHANGE COULD BE DECIDED WITHIN ‘WEEKS’
The AFL is prepared to lose money on Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney “for a generation”, league boss Gillon McLachlan has declared.
A day after News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller expressed serious concern for the league’s most recent additions to the competition, McLachlan admitted that while “it’s challenging” for the Suns and Giants more than a decade after joining the AFL, he urged patience.
Addressing the SportNXT conference in Melbourne, McLachlan said on long-range projects, “you’ve got to be prepared day on day in order to win in the end”.
“You may have to be prepared to lose,” he said.
“The (AFL) commission are prepared to lose money on Gold Coast and GWS for a generation.
“On a tactical decision, you might be getting a whack for 30 days to win on the 31st and it’s all forgotten. There’s an element of courage and really knowing where you’re going.”
The two clubs are the most heavily-funded by the league in the competition.
McLachlan elaborated further after his keynote address at the conference.
“There’s always a ladder, and we wish they were winning more games,” he said.
“I think there’s the now, and then the broader.
“Gold Coast and GWS – these are generational decisions. So we’re in constant dialogue about how they go better. If we can help, so they can go better on-field – which would solve a lot of issues – and how we can help them and grow their markets.
“I can see that neither of those teams made the eight last year and Gold Coast has never made the eight. It’s challenging. But there’s a lot of hard work going on and they’ve both got talented lists, and we are very comfortable with the decisions. It’s just at any point in time, if they’re not going as well as you’d like, there’s a challenge.”
McLachlan also said:
■ He had reached out to Western Bulldog Jamarra Ugle-Hagan in the wake of last weekend’s racial vilification incident, “because it is just completely unacceptable”.
■ A call on whether the timeslot for the grand final will be made “in the coming weeks”.
■ Players are not confused about head-high contact in the wake of heavy penalties for bumps and sling tackles.
■ The AFL is open to adopting microchip technology in footballs that could be pivotal in determining line-ball calls that decide games.
■ That Hawthorn’s decision to heavily cull experience from its list had not ruffled feathers at league headquarters.
■ His lengthy farewell tour as chief executive will draw to a close “in the coming weeks” and that “the commission has a big decision to make and they’re playing that process out”.
“I think people understand that,” he said.
The Herald Sun revealed on Wednesday that AFL senior coaches are increasingly frustrated after heavy cuts to the soft cap, triggering mental health concerns among the game’s top minds.
McLachlan conceded that while “there were tough decisions made” amid the covid pandemic, a balance could be struck.
“I think you’ll find that the cap is reinflating reasonably quickly,” he said.
“We’re talking with the clubs … these discussions are ongoing.
“We met with all the senior coaches in the lead-in to the season and I think we’re going about it the right way.
“We’re trying to manage what is the right level of the cap for the health and wellbeing of the coaches, the right standard of football and also the right balance for what’s the right number.
“I don’t think it necessarily needs to go back to where we were.”
BROADCASTERS FEAR EXPANSION CLUBS ‘GOING BACKWARDS’
Lauren Wood and Michael Warner
Broadcasters say they fear the AFL’s two expansion clubs - the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney - are “going backwards” a decade on from their formation.
News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller - also a director of Foxtel and Fox Sports - has raised concerns over “a two-speed economy” in Australian sport at the SportNXT conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.
“We have some great sports in terms of AFL … (they) are world class in how they manage themselves, but at the same time, the concern I’d have around the Giants and the Suns - they’re going backwards,” Miller said.
“And that’s something which I don’t know is being addressed.”
Giants chairman Tony Shepherd told the Herald Sun on Tuesday night: “I think it’s fair to say that both clubs suffered during the pandemic. It’s very hard to build a fan base without an audience.
“And in our case we are in western Sydney, which is probably the most competitive sporting market in the world. But we are recovering from that now … and working very hard with the AFL on increasing our reach, which is what I think Michael is referring to.”
Despite the concerns the AFL Commission closes in on a deal to start a 19th franchise in Tasmania and amid growing concern among clubs over the lengthy farewell tour of league chief executive Gillon McLachlan, who is set to speak at the conference on Wednesday.
The AFL is also grappling with the long-running Hawthorn racism saga, two concussion class actions and a yet-to-be-finalised pay deal with men’s and women’s players.
There is added frustration over two commission vacancies and uncertainty over the start time of this year’s grand final.
“Gill’s legacy is being damaged by the day,” another industry insider said on Tuesday.
“The AFL does not understand the markets north of the border. It is going backwards on the Gold Coast and in western Sydney - the NRL and its clubs have responded well in these territories.
“More than $50 million is being poured in a year - how long will this continue for? When do you cut your losses?”
The AFL is awaiting the May federal budget after maintaining a licence for a Tasmanian team hinges on federal funding for a new stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart.
Miller said expansion in sports like AFL risked “blowouts” as media companies fight for supporters’ “attention span” in an increasingly competitive market.
“That is a big challenge that the broadcasters and the media have, is that if there’s not the competition there … the fan or the supporter wants to see a contest,” he said.
“And there’s so much availability there that they’ll move between them. In terms of choosing what sports to back, it’s where the interest levels are.”
Miller also questioned the decision of the AFL and NRL to schedule two blockbuster games in a head-to-head timeslot last Friday night.
“We had a situation on Friday night where the two south-east Queensland NRL teams, the Dolphins and the Broncos, were playing at the same time as the Lions and Melbourne (in the AFL),” he said.
Shepherd said he had always warned the AFL it would take “20 to 30 years” for the Giants to become a fully viable club.
“This is the hardest part of the market, because this is the heartland of rugby league,” he said.
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