AFL set to retain current number of Thursday night games in 2019
THURSDAY night football returns next week for the next five weeks, but will the AFL expand the schedule next season? Plus, the league is considering a couple of options for next year’s expanded AFLW competition.
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THE AFL will resist the temptation to play more than seven Thursday night games next year as it preserves minimum six-day breaks for clubs.
Next Thursday marks the start of five consecutive Thursday night clashes for the league after two early in the season.
AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking said earlier this week the league was keen to explore an expanded schedule of Thursday footy.
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But the Herald Sun understands the AFL will retain the current seven Thursday games, aware playing more would eat into player recovery.
The league is only able to play five Thursday games mid-year because teams coming off byes are able to slot into the Thursday schedule.
The AFLPA and clubs are already attempting to minimise the number of six-day breaks, let alone five-day breaks.
Meanwhile, AFLW clubs will be informed in around a month of the competition schedule for the new 10-team AFLW competition.
There are three possibilities, one of which is a five-week home-and-away season with two weeks of finals.
The cost of broadcasting AFLW games remains significant for TV channels which extract only modest ratings in return.
A seven-week home-and-away season involving 10 teams with two week of finals would increase those costs further.
The AFL’s coaches will meet at Gillon McLachlan’s home on Monday night over short beef ribs and chicken to discuss the state of football.
The look of the game is sure to be on the agenda, with AFL legends consulted on Thursday exiting a meeting adamant significant intervention is coming by October.
The league will next canvass the AFL’s fans, potentially using one of the focus groups the league has to survey supporters on significant issues.
Geelong chief executive Brian Cook said he was worried about the state of the game but hoped the league would give it another season to evolve.’
“As a general thing it’s become more defensive. There is no doubt about that and probably less entertaining to younger audiences and new audiences,’’ he said.
“It’s still quite attractive to the purists but in terms of new people they might not be falling in love with it.
“We need to be aware of it and we should see how it evolves over the next season. If it doesn’t get better we better have a look at the rules and get to intervention eventually.”
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