AFL 2022: All the latest news and talking points over the off-season
Ross Lyon was famous for his defence first strategies as coach of the Saints and Fremantle, but News Corp analyst Mick McGuane has predicted a new look this time around.
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Herald Sun footy analyst Mick McGuane has predicted new St Kilda coach Ross Lyon will remodel his trademark defence-first strategies into a far more attacking mode as AFL clubs look to replicate the style played by 2022 premiers Geelong.
McGuane has huge admiration for Lyon’s coaching nous, having taken St Kilda to Grand Finals in 2009 and 2010 and Fremantle in 2013.
But as successful as Lyon’s defensive style was a decade or more ago, McGuane says the veteran coach is smart enough to adapt to the new trend in AFL football, with a more run-and-gun style fuelling teams such as Geelong and preliminary finalists Collingwood in 2022.
McGuane said this year provided one of the most attractive brands of football in recent memory, and he expects more of the same next year.
“Knowing the copycat industry that AFL footy is in terms of coaching, we can expect teams to adopt the Collingwood style, which they adopted from Richmond,” McGuane said.
“And we saw Geelong go with faster ball movement with great success this year, so we will see teams wanting to adopt that more attractive, exciting factor in their games.
“It will be interesting to see if Ross (Lyon) aligns his psyche to that as well. He has always been so strong on defence and (his teams) have been hard to score against. But at times they have struggled to score (themselves).
“I am tipping Ross will be trying to score as much as he can, so we can expect a style change. It is going to be very interesting seeing how he adapts to the new trends in footy.”
Former Hawthorn champion Shane Crawford said Lyon would be the most intriguing character to watch in AFL football next season, along with North Melbourne’s new coach Alastair Clarkson and Essendon’s new coach in Brad Scott.
“I always remember playing against Ross Lyon teams and I found it really difficult because of the way he would block space so that you could never run directly towards goals,” Crawford said.
“He always made it very difficult for opposition teams.
“But he will have to make some changes. He will have to go that way (a more attacking brand) because at the end of the day, you have to score to win.
“That attacking brand has been used by a lot of the younger, newer coaches such as Craig McRae and Sammy Mitchell. That will definitely be a focus for Ross and St Kilda.”
Crawford said the AFL and the AFL Coaches’ Association needed to keep an eye on the welfare of senior coaches, saying it was a real area of concern given the scrutiny and pressure they are under now.
“Brett Ratten put everything into it and did a good job, but still lost his job. Coaches are under more pressure than ever these days,” Crawford said.
“We just need to make sure they are all getting the right support at all times. ”
Crawford calls for mid-season trade period
Brownlow medallist Shane Crawford has called on the AFL to introduce a mid-season trade period, while insisting players deserve a bigger slice of the league’s financial pie into the future.
The former Hawks champion believes players sidelined from senior selection for extended periods for form or team balance issues deserve the chance to find a new home in-season – as is the case in many global sports.
“I am all for swapping players (mid-season) if they are not getting an opportunity at their clubs,” Crawford told News Corp.
“We’ve already seen how successful the mid-season draft can be, so I can’t see why we wouldn’t have a mid-season trade period.
“Anytime we are talking about footy is a great thing. Just imagine how much interest there would be in a mid-season trade period.”
The AFL currently has a mid-season draft – which was reintroduced in 2019 after a hiatus of more than 20 years – with recent success stories involving Richmond’s Marlion Pickett, Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe and Collingwood’s John Noble.
But the league has so far resisted the temptation to allow clubs to trade in-season.
Almost 40 players were traded or moved via free agency at the end of the 2022 season, with Crawford saying some of them – including Sam Weideman – could have potentially moved clubs a few months earlier.
Weideman was traded from Melbourne to Essendon last month, having played only 10 games this year for the Demons.
Crawford said clubs should also have the chance to bolster their lists mid-season in the rundown towards the finals, particularly if they are struck down by injuries to key players.
“It’s what happens in sports overseas, so we should have the same thing here,” he said. “It creates talk so that footy is always in the news.
“Personally, what I would do is to get rid of the bye leading into the finals. We don’t need it. It just stops the momentum of the season.
“I also think (the bye before the finals) is unfair on those teams who make the top four. If they are good enough, they can win in the first week of the finals and then get a rest.
“I would prefer it to become a war of attrition where the team that is toughest wins out.”
Crawford said the AFL’s current negotiations with the AFLPA over a new collective bargaining agreement for the men’s and women’s players needed to take into account that the players are the one who “put on the show.”
This comes off the back of the richest TV broadcasting rights deal in Australian sport – more than $4.5 billion – which will see the game broadcast on Fox and Channel 7 until the end of 2031.
“The players are the ones who put their bodies on the line, so they have to be rewarded,” he said.
“The spectacle was so good this year, so we’ve got to reward the players for that.
“Give the players what they want, look after them and make them feel valued. If you do that, you are investing in the game for the future and the players keep striving to be the best. ”
Eddie: Why AFL must fast-track key appointments
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has urged the AFL to fast-track the appointments of its next chief executive and general manager of football as well as fill its Commission vacancies to give key stakeholders a vision into the game’s future in 2023 and beyond.
Asked about what the league’s priorities were for next year, McGuire said locking in those long-term replacements would play a significant role in helping to shape the competition’s direction.
Outgoing CEO Gill McLachlan is now likely to stay in the role until early next year with the independent probe into allegations of racism, bullying and other inappropriate behaviour at Hawthorn Football Club from 2008-16 expected to run until December 22.
Brad Scott also vacated his football operations role to become Essendon’s new senior coach, while the AFL also has the option of filling two Commission vacancies.
In addition to that, Andrew Newbold has taken leave from his current role as an AFL Commissioner for the duration of the probe.
While McGuire acknowledged the AFL has a number of key strategic issues on its hands right now, he believes the clubs are keen for a clearer picture on potential replacement options.
“As a football supporter, I am very keen to see who’s going to be leading our great game into the future,” McGuire told the Herald Sun. “I’m sure the clubs would be the same.”
“I think it is time now that we will fill the (vacant) spots on the Commission, the football (operations) position and the CEO’s role.
“That would give everyone the chance to draw a line and say ‘this is what the next 20 years is going to look like’.”
McGuire said there were still plenty of questions to be answered about key issues, including the future of a proposed Tasmanian team, centred on player retention, a new stadium and the measures to boost football in the state.
He said it would be appropriate for the next chief executive to play a key role on that issue.
“If I was a president of a club, there would be a lot of questions I would like answered,” he said.
“There are (two vacant) spots on the Commission and I would like to know where they are going with that. I don’t think we need some more board-types, (they should get) some people with some imagination and some real understanding of the game. ”
EDDIE: ROOF ON THE MCG IS A MUST
A proposed billion-dollar-plus redevelopment of the Melbourne Cricket Ground must include a roof if it wants to remain one of the pre-eminent sporting and entertainment stadiums of the world, according to Eddie McGuire.
The former Collingwood president maintains the MCG dodged a weather bullet in last Sunday’s T20 World Cup final when England overpowered Pakistan to win the title.
The game had been under a serious weather threat leading into the final, but was thankfully played out to completion against threatening skies and oncoming thunderstorms.
If the final had been washed out on Sunday and postponed until the reserve day the following day, it would almost certainly have been abandoned, with both teams declared joint winners.
McGuire said the proposed redevelopment of the Great Southern Stand – which has been estimated to cost more than $1 billion – had to include a roof – potentially a retractable one – for the entire stadium.
“We came within a bee’s diaphragm (of having a washed out T20 World Cup final),” McGuire said. “If that hasn’t convinced us that we need a roof at the MCG, I don’t know what will.
“We live in Melbourne, we’ve got climate change and we’ve got floods. I don’t know too many people who would build a house without a roof.”
McGuire stressed that two of Melbourne’s other premier venues – Marvel Stadium and Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park – had benefited enormously from hosting events in all-weather conditions, thanks to sporting administrators having the foresight to install a roof for both of them.
Now he says the MCG must follow suit and keep evolving to ensure it maintains its position as Australia’s premier sporting venue.
McGuire was part of a delegation that attended this year’s NFL Super Bowl at Los Angeles’s new US$5.5 billion (AU$7.7bn) SoFi Stadium – complete with a state-of-the-art roof.
That only strengthened his belief that the MCG’s redevelopment needed to be bold in its future planning.
“We don’t want to be left behind by not planning for the future,” he said. “It (a roof) is what is required. We’ve got a roof at Marvel Stadium and we’ve got a roof at Rod Laver Arena.
“Now we need one at the MCG.
“Just imagine being able to have a Collingwood-Carlton game at the MCG during the day and maybe a Rolling Stones concert the next day.”
While McGuire admitted a roof at the MCG would significantly increase the cost of redevelopment plans for the Great Southern Stand, he insisted it would be money well spent and would end up paying for itself in terms of maximising crowd attendances and increased event schedules.
“We had 80,000 (attend the T20 final), but I reckon they would have got 90,000 if we had a roof, as a lot of people would have been worried about the game going ahead (due to the weather),” he said.
“You can’t imagine people sitting in the hail in 2050. We need to play for the future.”
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Originally published as AFL 2022: All the latest news and talking points over the off-season
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