Opinion: AFL Grand Final at night might have looked great, but it must never happen again
Richmond president Peggy O’Neal says the build-up to the first-ever AFL night Grand Final was too long and wants to see it return to its afternoon timeslot. HAVE YOUR SAY
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Richmond president Peggy O’Neal wants to see the return of a day Grand Final.
O’Neal echoed the view of her captain, Trent Cotchin, when she said she preferred the afternoon timeslot.
While TV ratings for the AFL’s first evening decider were huge – Richmond and Geelong had 3.812 million viewers, the biggest audience for an AFL game in four years – footy fans don’t want another night Grand Final either.
A Herald Sun reader survey has found almost 80 per cent preferred to stick with tradition of an afternoon Grand Final.
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Just seven per cent of respondents favoured a night event, while 14 per cent opted for a twilight match.
“I didn’t enjoy it and the day is very long,” O’Neal told 3AW.
“I’m a traditionalist. I like the afternoon.
“… This was a sample of what it might look like and so I guess we’re better informed when we comment (to the AFL about our preferred start time) next.
“The afternoon, a lot more families can enjoy it … At night games generally, like Friday nights when they’re evening games, children tend not to come in the same sort of numbers and we have to be mindful of the next generation.
“I also think, having been fortunate enough to win a couple of Grand Finals, and be in some, after the game’s over it’s really a time to let players celebrate with their fans and the families.
“And as it gets later and later and then the next day, usually on Sunday, there’s some family event back at the club, so you think, well, if it’s going on until 2 in the morning … I think we have to think about what happens after the Grand Final and make sure that that isn’t lost along the way”.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane said the league should stick with it’s new format.
“You can look at this in many ways, but pretty much every major sporting event in the world now is played at night and it’s played at night for a very simple reason, to maximise TV ratings,” Cochrane said.
“It had phenomenal TV ratings. The pre-game entertainment was double the ratings of last year.
“You just can’t possibly consider moving that back.”
AKERMANIS: LET’S TAKE GRAND FINAL ON THE ROAD
AFL great Jason Akermanis has called for the league to take the Grand Final on the road as fans deliver their verdict on a night AFL Grand Final.
A Herald Sun reader survey has found almost 80 per cent want to revert with tradition of an afternoon Grand Final.
Just 7 per cent of respondents favoured a night event, while 14 per cent opted for a twilight match.
“The good old days (of) Saturday afternoon football. Finish work at 12pm and go straight to the MCG for a nice afternoon of football,” one fan wrote.
“But not if you want to go out to a restaurant or visit some people, or if there is a birthday party, you cannot enjoy the game.”
Another reader, Steve, said the afternoon time slot suited everyone.
“The afternoon is the only time that can work for everyone. Kids watch to the end. Families and friends can get together for it. Everyone can go home at a decent time.”
“Young adults can still go out and party afterwards. Friends can talk about, relive, or even re-watch the game together if it finishes at 6pm.”
“The build up with a barbecue lunch is perfect. Why on earth make it evening?”
“I think the AFL need to make a conscious decision if they really truly believe that this is not a Victorian-biased competition, and really want to start to move the final around the country like the NFL model, which they’ve copied so much of,” he said.
“That will show that their attitude and belief in the national competition is alive.
“Brisbane has shown it can host a night Grand Final, but you don’t have to do that every time.
“The AFL can now hold it in WA, they can hold it in Adelaide, they can hold it in one of the Sydney stadiums – they can start to move it around.
“Melbourne can be a 2.50pm start, Brisbane can be a night start, WA can be a night start … we’ve got options and the AFL can do something other than the tradition that has been around for so long.
“Do we want to take the game to the people who are the reason we have this game all around the country?”
“You can look at this in many ways but pretty much every major sporting event in the world now is played at night and it’s played at night for a very simple reason, to maximise TV ratings,” Cochrane said.
“It had phenomenal TV ratings. The pre-game entertainment was double the ratings of last year.
“You just can’t possibly consider moving that back.”
But premiership captain Trent Cotchin is a fan of the traditional afternoon decider.
“I know the (TV) ratings were through the roof, so clearly from a broadcasting point of view that’s a bonus,” Cotchin said from the Tigers’ Sunday premiership party at their KDV Sport hub.
“From all reports that (entertainment) was a plus as well.
“But I love the day game. It’s what I grew up (with), playing footy during the day, and there’s nothing better than a red Sherrin at the MCG … on a Saturday afternoon.
“The romance. For me, that’s what feels the norm.”
GRAND FINAL UNDER LIGHTS A NIGHTMARE FOR KIDS
- Jon Ralph, 360 view
The Richmond dynasty and all the euphoria that flowed from that crowning achievement turned into an hour-long poker game in our household by Sunday morning.
The 7.30pm Grand Final start meant young Tiger fans had hit the wall by half time and were forced to watch the second half unfold the morning after the night before.
With the Richmond diehards blissfully unaware of the score, it forced their father into an hour-long poker face to ensure he didn’t give up the result before Dustin Martin’s game sealer with 70 seconds left.
Mission accomplished – just – as the room erupted on 12-hour delay.
And yet the bittersweet feeling only added to the gut feel that the AFL should listen to the fans and return its marquee contest to a 2.30pm contest next season.
The AFL gleefully accepted the chance at this timeslot because of the Cox Plate double-booking, and yet there is not a single reason why Gillon McLachlan shouldn’t revert to the long-held tradition immediately.
Certainly not the ratings, which were good but not great when they were released on Sunday morning.
The game drew a national average audience of 3.812 million people, up 30 per cent on last year’s snorefest between Richmond and GWS but still short of the 4.12 million in 2016 (Dogs-Sydney) and 4.443 million in 2005 (Sydney-West Coast).
You can spin TV ratings any way you like, but in a COVID era where fans were trapped in homes instead of dispersed across tens of thousands of barbecues they weren’t the lay down misere that would force the league to lock away this timeslot.
Especially since Channel 7 has already committed to an extension through to 2024 so doesn‘t need to be coddled with a night fixture to boost the AFL’s TV rights bounty.
The day dragged interminably before the 7.30pm start and if anyone believed the utterly forgettable pre-match entertainment would get the crowd into a lather they were sadly mistaken.
The halftime entertainment by Brisbane outfit Sheppard in pitch dark showed why Eddie McGuire has pushed so long for an entertainment spectacular with all the bells and whistles night-time affords.
The one element no one noticed was a half time that dragged to close to 30 minutes.
So at the very least if the AFL wanted to push the game back to a 4.30pm start, halftime entertainment at the MCG closer to 6pm would be the perfect vehicle to get the best of both worlds.
But as the AFL bids to return the game to normality next year Gillon McLachlan’s bid to return to the game to the fans needs to start with a 2.30pm timeslot.
After a year of so many night games, that afternoon slot is so unique it actually becomes a welcome point of difference.
After all, given COVID’s reach it might be only late in 2021 that we can even have a full crowd at the MCG so imagine that sense of anticipation.
The AFL also needs to be careful chasing one-time “theatre-going” viewers in a night-time slot and shutting out young kids who might be rusted on for life by watching their team hold the cup aloft.
The AFL shouldn’t ignore a night-time Grand Final because it makes it hell for newspaper deadlines, post-match functions and means punters have a hell of a time staying sober until the first bounce.
They should play the AFL’s most valuable property in the afternoon because every available poll shows it’s what the vast majority of AFL fans want.
At a time when a league emerging from its COVID crisis will need to listen to them more than ever before.
COTCHIN WANTS RETURN TO TRADITION
– By Sam Landsberger
Three-time premiership captain Trent Cotchin wants the AFL Commission to restore next year’s Grand Final to its traditional 2.30pm timeslot at the MCG.
Cotchin said there was “nothing better than a red Sherrin” after leading Richmond to a third flag in four years in Saturday’s historical night Grand Final at the Gabba.
“I know the (TV) ratings were through the roof, so clearly from a broadcasting point of view that’s a bonus,” Cotchin said from the Tigers’ Sunday premiership party at their KDV Sport hub.
“From all reports that (entertainment) was a plus as well.
“But I love the day game. It’s what I grew up (with), playing footy during the day, and there’s nothing better than a red Sherrin at the MCG … on a Saturday afternoon.
“The romance. For me, that’s what feels the norm.”
Cotchin’s comments serve as a blow for the AFL, which was hoping to use the experimental night Grand Final as an audition for next year.
Cotchin has become the game’s most powerful captain and his CV is now similar to Brisbane Lions legend Michael Voss.
But Cotchin nearly walked away from the job four years ago.
At the 2017 Jack Dyer Medal, Cotchin said: “I remember sitting with my wife after last year and telling her, ‘I’ll give this captaincy thing one more year, and if it doesn’t go well, we bomb out again or we don’t do it right then we’ll see if someone else can do the job’.”
Cotchin said on Sunday that he was “extremely close” to walking away.
“Not just of being captain of such a special club, but footy as well,” he said.
“It got to a pretty challenging point. That’s when you need to really most on the people that love and care most about you, because there’s always someone that wants to hear how you’re really going.”
Coach Damien Hardwick tapped into Bill Belichick’s ‘Do Your Job’ motto at NFL juggernaut New England Patriots to help inspire his team for the Grand Final.
“We speak a lot about playing your role, and they had a motto about doing your job which is effectively the same thing,” Cotchin said.
“If you execute that you typically give yourself every chance of winning a game of footy.”
Cotchin said three-time Norm Smith Medallist Dustin Martin had taken the defensive aspects of his game “to a new level” in 2020.
The party will continue rolling for the Tigers at their KDV Sport hub as the club conducts exit interviews and crowns their best-and-fairest on Monday.
“I think there’ll be quite a few guys who have post-hub blues as well, having not been away from the boys for so long as well,” Cotchin said.
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Originally published as Opinion: AFL Grand Final at night might have looked great, but it must never happen again