Paul Roos calls on AFL to stick with tradition and reject twilight grand final

Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos has told the AFL to resist the temptation to move the grand final to a twilight timeslot, saying he is a massive fan of the afternoon start.

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Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos has called on the AFL to resist the temptation for a twilight grand final.

The Australian Football Hall of Famer, who was a guest speaker at the Advertiser Foundation 2019 AFL season launch at Adelaide Oval, said he had not heard one good reason to shift the premiership decider from its traditional Saturday 2.30pm bounce down and wants the game to continue to be played during the day.

Roos’ call comes as the AFL Commission meets in Melbourne on Thursday to make a decision on the starting time for this year’s marquee event.

“Don’t change it,’’ 2005 Swans premiership coach and seven-times All-Australian Roos said.

“We already have a great event and if it’s not broken don’t try to fix it. You don’t change for change sake.

“I’ve been fortunate to travel around the world to some of the great sporting events — the Superbowl, Major League Baseball All-Star game and Wimbledon and French Open tennis championships — and I always come back to Australia thinking our grand final stacks up.

“It’s an amazing day, a great event with a great game, so I am a massive proponent of the 2.30pm start. I love it.’’

Former Sydney coach Paul Roos and Barry Hall raise the 2005 premiership cup.

The grand final has never started later than 2.55pm and in recent years has begun at 2.30pm.

But a twilight grand final is high on the AFL’s agenda.

Commission chairman Richard Goyder last week called for a twilight grand final, claiming it or a night game would enable the league to “really put on a show’’.

“At the right time and for the right reasons, I think we should give it a go,” he said.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said a later start was “inevitable at some point in the future”.

AFL chairman Richard Goyder at Perth’s Optus Stadium Picture: Daniel Wilkins

But Roos, who played in the 1996 grand final with the Swans and coached the club to the 2005 flag, doesn’t want the league messing with tradition.

“When I hear the chairman talk about possibly moving the start time of the game because of the half-time entertainment, I’m thinking I don’t go for the entertainment,’’ Roos told The Advertiser.

“I go for the game. To me, that is the entertainment and I’m sure the majority of people feel the same way.

“I’m sure they go to the grand final for the game, not look at their ticket and say ‘I'm not sure who’s playing today but I want to make sure I see Maroon 5 at half-time’.

“When I hear some of this talk I get a little confused as to what the priorities are.

“Is it the off-field entertainment or the grand final itself?

“At the moment the grand final has everything you want as a player, a coach and a fan and if I tick those three boxes it is hard for me to make a case to move it.

“I haven’t heard a good argument yet as to why you would move it, other than someone say it might look good with the lights on and the entertainment.

“That’s not good enough as far as I’m concerned.’’