Secret contract clause which kills interstate clubs’ campaign for ‘best of three’ grand final series

Interstate clubs have been on a long campaign to wrest the grand final away from the MCG, with a best of three series often floated as a solution. SAM LANDSBERGER reports that idea is dead in the water.

The AFL would be contractually bound to play every game of a best of three grand final series at the MCG, meaning the long-running campaign from non-Victorian clubs to host a decider is dead in the water.

This masthead can reveal that a secret clause written into the contract that has the grand final locked in at the MCG until at least 2059 guarantees that all matches that determine the winner of the grand final must be played at the spiritual home of football.

That clause is called the licence agreement and has been signed by the AFL, the MCC and the Victorian Government.

The licence agreement locks the grand final in at the MCG whether it be a single match or a series of matches until the contract expires in 2059.

Fremantle boss Simon Garlick has been campaigning hard behind the scenes for a best-of-three model and used former West Coast boss Trevor Nisbett’s recent farewell party to pitch the idea to new AFL Commissioner Andrew Ireland.

Powerbrokers from almost every non-Victorian club – including recent comments Sydney, GWS and Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast – have called for a best-of-three format that would rotate the grand final around the country, while keeping one game at the MCG.

Victorian clubs have a 9-2 advantage over interstate clubs on grand final day since 2000, with the decider tied to the MCG until 2059. Picture: Jason Edwards.

Last week Swans coach John Longmire said: “If you’re talking about the growth of the game, wouldn’t it be wonderful (to have the grand final interstate)”.

On Saturday Suns boss Mark Evans said “we have to have the discussion” about a best-of-three series played nationwide.

The non-Victorian clubs appear to have a valid point based on recent results. Since 2007 there have been 11 grand finals staged at the MCG between a Victorian and non-Victorian club.

Victorian clubs hold a 9-2 advantage, with only West Coast defeating Collingwood in 2018 and the Swans upsetting Hawthorn in 2012.

But Garlick, Longmire, Evans and others appear to be wasting their breath given the licence agreement and the AFL’s firm position.

League spokesman Jay Allen told this masthead on Wednesday there were “categorically no plans to change the AFL grand final”.

Players would be unlikely to be supportive of playing more than one grand final due to the struggle to get up for three brutal matches on the back of a full home-and-away season and finals series.

They say one decider is hard enough to get through and it would be a struggle to get up for three brutal matches on the back of a full home-and-away season and finals series.

St Kilda players appeared physically cooked when they had to return to the MCG in 2010 for a grand final replay following a draw against Collingwood.

The league then scrubbed the replay rule for drawn matches, which are now decided in extra time.