Is the NRL laughing at the AFL’s Gather Round right now?
There is an undeniable truth that can’t be ignored as one of the most fierce code war debates continues to rage in Adelaide.
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WARNING: May or may not include hot takes.
Even for code wars, Magic Round vs Gather Round is an explosive subject.
There was no lie when pumped up Crows coach Matthew Nicks faced the press with emotions still running high after his team’s incredible win to kick-off Gather Round on Thursday night.
“Adelaide is rocking,” he said.
This is far from the whole story.
The code war debate is as subjective as it gets – and no doubt hits the sensitive areas of both NRL and AFL fans.
There are a thousand of different criteria – ticket sales, TV ratings, government funding etc – but what matters most is what the overall experience is like for footy fans.
This is what the argument needs to be boiled down to – is it more fun at Magic Round or Gather Round?
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There are no losers in this debate, but it’s here that a “winner” emerges.
The AFL has never shied away from the fact an equivalent of the Magic Round 3-day “superpass” was never a realistic option for the inaugural Gather Round. But that doesn’t change the fact that a gluttony of football is what most fans are looking for at a “festival of football”.
The inescapable truth is that at Magic Round fans can settle in for three straight days sitting in the same seat.
For AFL fans to watch all nine matches, they would have to purchase seven separate tickets. The round features only two double headers.
There are understandably plenty of good reasons for this. Turf degradation with 400 players tromping all over the field across four days – in potentially wet weather – could have been a disaster.
There’s also the simple fact that three games of footy, nine hours, is a long time even for rusted on footy fans to sit in the outer. The obvious counter argument to this is the long days don’t scare off cricket fans from settling in for eight hours of Test cricket in a day. For the record, the NRL’s Magic Round puts on three matches back to back on the Saturday in the space of seven hours.
The AFL may just roll its eyes at any criticism towards this imbalance, there are legitimately many other priorities to consider in its delivery of the Gather Round concept.
It’s easy for the AFL to shrug off this important truth by saying Gather Round was never about trying to be an exact version of the concept the NRL famously ripped from the UK Super League before its introduction during the 2019 NRL season.
But this is where the AFL appears to be lost. If it is not a true festival of footy — an all-you-can-eat banquet of beers, Bontempellis and even Brisbane Lions — like Magic Round is, what is Gather Round?
It’s the thing that has some rugby league fans scoffing at the AFL.
One fan wrote on Twitter: “Chiming in late I know but isn’t the whole point of the NRL magic round that you could see every game of the round at a single venue.
“I imagine it’s basically impossible from a turf perspective to do that with AFL but it feels like the gather round concept misses the point?”
Another fan wrote on Twitter: “Given it’s not possible to attend every single game on the weekend it couldn’t possibly be as good”.
This is basically the AFL’s attempt of Magic Round. Just a $2 shop ripoff. pic.twitter.com/4E1MBnCCFt
— Scotty West (@scottywest83) April 12, 2023
If the AFL, from the very start, was never pursuing what the NRL has with its Magic Round, why has the league been so uncharacteristically public and cheeky about comparing itself to the rival code?
“It’s already better now,” AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said on Wednesday in Adelaide when asked the same question we’re tackling right now.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to match these crowds, this oval, the sellout in the (Adelaide) hills. Norwood Oval, Norwood Parade closed off. This is going to be an incredible weekend. Supporters travelling from all over the country. We have got to execute it but it’s going to be a fun weekend.”
For the rarest of rare moments, it was McLachlan borrowing a play from NRL supremo Peter V’landys’ playbook.
In McLachlan’s defence, he has plenty of ammunition to his argument.
Many more fans will attend Gather Round than Magic Round, which had an attendance of more than 130,000 in 2022.
All nine matches have sold out in Adelaide with 190,000 tickets purchased.
Even the Fremantle-Gold Coast match at Norwood Oval – as announced on Thursday – has sold out.
That was followed on Friday morning with the AFL announcing the Richmond-Sydney clash at Adelaide Oval on Friday night has also sold out after a last-minute ticket sales blitz where prices were slashed to as little as $15 and kids under the age of 14 being given free entry.
Ticket sales are not the same thing as customer satisfaction. That is the unquantifiable measurement we’re discussing now.
It is understood South Australia government officials anticipate an economic injection of around $20 million into the state coffers – rivalling the $27.4 million in economic activity the NRL and Queensland government claimed for Magic Round last year.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskis also trumpeted a new hotel occupancy record of 92 per cent for Saturday night. As you can see from the ridiculous prices Airbnb hosts are demanding, it is almost impossible to get a room – and it shows in the way the city is buzzing both with anticipation and with the afterglow of the Adelaide Crows’ staggering thrashing of Carlton on Thursday night.
Crows coach Matthew Nicks said after his team’s red-hot performance his players are going to soak it in.
“I’ve got no doubt guys are going to hang around and enjoy the festivities,” he said.
“It makes it all the more enjoyable after tonight. There’s a lot going on. Adelaide’s rocking.”
It was estimated recently, it has cost the South Australian taxpayer around $14 million from its major events budget, but has created an atmosphere unlike anything seen, according to some.
The high profile FootyIndustryAU Twitter profile posted on Twitter: “I run some accommodation in the city in Adelaide. IN terms of selling out, Ive never seen anything like it in 18 years.
“WOMAD sold out over time, so does the Test and Supercars, but as a 3 day event, this was fairly unique in my experience.”
There is an undeniable buzz around Adelaide and with live sites and events across the City of Churches you would be a brave man to suggest the AFL won’t be bringing Gather Round back to South Australia in 12 months’ time.
Several other states, including NSW and WA have put their hand up to get in on the action but McLachlan said Adelaide “feels like the right spot” as a heartland of Australian rules.
“Adelaide just feels like the right spot. The fact that it’s in the centre of Australia,” McLachlan told 3AW on Friday morning.
“I think it’s got a strong case that it’s got its roots down here and it needs to be here for a while.”
What we’re unlikely to see this weekend at Adelaide Oval, Norwood, or Mount Barker is the Storm Troopers, Power Rangers and ‘Ritchies’ you see at the Adelaide Test, or the ridiculous costumes fans sport at Magic Round. That is what a real festival looks like.
This is not to say in any way that Gather Round will not be a roaring success – and the buzzing city of Adelaide is already a testament to that fact. But that is not the argument thousands and thousands of footy fans are having this weekend. The discussion we’ve been having as you read this article is who did it best?
Originally published as Is the NRL laughing at the AFL’s Gather Round right now?
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