Clubs to take skeleton staff to AFLX matches
CLUBS are handing out free tickets, stars are pulling out of matches and some clubs are sending skeleton staffs to games. So will fans give AFLX any attention this weekend?
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CLUBS are continuing to give AFLX short shrift with as few as 12 players and skeleton support staffs set to travel to tournaments interstate.
The AFL this week slashed ticket prices while Essendon handed out free tickets on social media with the reception from the public matching the interest levels being shown by clubs.
Coaches are refusing to let their superstars play and Fremantle withdrew Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe only 15 hours after naming him captain.
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The Dockers said Fyfe was being “managed” — 39 days before Round 1. He was replaced by Tom North, drafted at pick No.65 last November.
Twelve clubs have named their squads and only Fremantle and St Kilda have selected the maximum of 20 players.
The Tigers are set to send just 12 players to Sydney while West Coast (13), Brisbane Lions (13), Collingwood (14) and Geelong (15) are also travelling light.
The Western Bulldogs are likely to send a dozen youngsters and, like Richmond, have shown almost no interest in AFLX at training.
AFLX is played seven-a-side with a bench of three.
Each club will play two 20-minute games plus a possible grand final.
The AFL, Etihad Stadium and Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium all refused to tell the Herald Sun how many tickets had been sold or what attendances they were budgeting for.
But competing clubs were last week given an indication that they were likely to play in front of 20,000-25,000 fans at Etihad.
That is an average of about 4000 supporters per club for the round-robin between Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne, St Kilda and North Melbourne.
The quality of the matches in Adelaide on Thursday night could determine walk-ups at Docklands.
Allianz Stadium yesterday said 10,000-12,000 were expected to watch the six clubs playing in Sydney on Saturday. The venue seats 45,000.
Richmond, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions are set to depart Sydney straight after they play on Saturday evening, spending the AFL minimum one night away.
Clubs playing in Adelaide are staying a second night because their matches finish later.
Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray has been the only 2017 All-Australian named so far while the Crows selected just two players from last year’s Grand Final — Jake Kelly and Andy Otten.
West Coast selected a 15-man squad totalling 91 games of AFL experience with 11 members yet to debut and 21-year-old Liam Duggan the captain.
Most senior coaches have also stepped aside with Ben McGlynn (St Kilda), Max Bailey (Hawthorn), Ben Hudson (Brisbane), Hayden Skipworth (Essendon) and Craig Jennings (Melbourne) to take the reins.
Surrounded by a circus strongman and an acrobat at the AFLX launch, Gillon McLachlan was hopeful the venture would be a hit.
“Everything that’s new you have to be realistic about,” McLachlan said.
“We’ll look at general interest and that comes through in ratings, in crowds and quality of the player and just the general how it comes across. We won’t have hard and fast metrics.”
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