AFL chief Gillon McLachlan says Sydney a Grand Final option if MCG cannot stage the big one
The AFL has declared it will double down on its commitment to investing in NSW, with the prospect of a Grand Final in Sydney yet to be dismissed as Melbourne’s six-week lockdown threatens to change the AFL landscape.
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The AFL is considering scheduling a blockbuster clash between two Melbourne rivals in Sydney in a bid to chase crowds.
League boss Gillon McLachlan also revealed on Wednesday that Sydney’s ANZ Stadium is one venue on standby to host the Grand Final if Victoria’s deepening COVID-19 crisis rules out the MCG.
McLachlan admits Sydney could become a legitimate option for a decider — with ANZ Stadium’s 80,000 capacity making it the country’s next biggest option — along with Perth and Adelaide.
“At the moment we’ve got an agreement to play the Grand Final at the MCG and that’s where we are planning on playing the Grand Final,” McLachlan told The Daily Telegraph.
“However, if it was unable to be played there, for whatever reason, then there’s the prospect of taking it (elsewhere).
“Sydney is an amazing sporting town. It’s got a great venue at ANZ, as to do many other cities in this country.”
McLachlan says fixture bosses would seriously consider scheduling a Victorian derby blockbuster at the SCG over the coming weeks should the prospect open up in August for big crowds to attend sporting matches in NSW.
All 10 Victorian clubs have been evacuated out of the state as Melbourne goes into lockdown.
Melbourne and Hawthorn are currently based in NSW hubs, while Collingwood and Geelong will spend a week in the state before heading to Perth.
“… Clearly Sydney has been a priority market for some time and it’s a silver lining for us in this terrible pandemic, that we’re now going to have multiple teams in NSW rolling through, showcasing different clubs and putting our game and Sydney on a national stage,” McLachlan said.
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“(The hub) will cement the great work Sydney and GWS have done.
“We’ve got such strong participation growth, not only for boys and men but for girls and women and I think it’s an opportunity that you’d dream of.”
McLachlan also doubled down on his commitment to compete with the NRL in Sydney after Swans Chairman Andrew Pridham warned the AFL could risk withering on the vine like rugby union if the game’s Melbourne powerbase doesn’t recognise NRL boss Peter V’landys as a serious threat.
McLachlan has declared that he will not back down on his investment to growing the AFL in NSW
NSW’s two AFL chairmen, Pridham and Tony Shepherd have both been at pains to caution AFL HQ that they now have a serious competitor on their hands in NRL boss, V’landys.
McLachlan said he doesn’t view V’landys as an adversary but is adamant there is no complacency at AFL house about one of the world’s most competitive sporting markets.
“I know they can feel confident we will continue to invest in those markets and that’s not something I’m going to back off on,” he said.
Having learnt a lesson from other sports who have failed to invest in the right areas, the AFL maintains that even considering the financial hit caused by COVID-19, it regards Sydney as one of its biggest priorities.
“We will continue to invest in NSW and Queensland. It’s one of our couple of key growth priorities, women is another huge one.
“I don’t really think about (the direct rivalry with NRL). We focus on what we’re doing. We’ve always had great respect for rugby league. We believe we can be, and we always want to be an option in Sydney. We think we’re growing well. We respect rugby league and we just continue to do our stuff.”
McLachlan admits that high quality Aussie Rules facilities is still a major problem in Sydney, as highlighted by the lack of grounds for visiting AFL teams to train at this week.
“We continue to work with local and State Governments to solve the challenge. It’s our biggest issue,” said McLachlan.
“We’ve got the SCG, Giants Stadium Blacktown and then it’s really tough after that. That’s unashamedly our biggest development challenge for the game in Sydney.”
WHAT DOES LOCKDOWN MEAN FOR AFL GRAND FINAL?
Premiership great Alastair Lynch says non-Victorian teams should be playing for the right to host this year’s Grand Final as Melbourne is cut off from the country by its second COVID-19 lockdown.
The AFL conceded on Tuesday night it might be forced to lock the 10 Victorian teams out of the state longer than its initial 32-day plan.
The Herald Sun understands the league will decide in coming days if it needs the hubs to stay open indefinitely.
“If circumstances are different we will adjust,” AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday of extended time in hubs.
The league could leave the return date for Victorian clubs open-ended or tell the teams it will allow them back after six weeks if coronavirus numbers fall dramatically.
The AFL would be faced with the dire prospect of a long mid-season pause if it brought clubs back to Victoria too early and could not get them exemptions to leave the state again.
In a dramatic day of fallout, the AFL will have to consider the first Grand Final outside Melbourne in VFL-AFL history.
Melbourne’s new six-week lockdown also means the likely abandonment of NAB League and VFL football after Melbourne went into lockdown until August 19.
The AFLPA said that its position remains that the players had given a commitment that they would be back in Victoria within five weeks for a break with families.
Players are aware their partners now have no family support at home given the new lockdown, with families now unable to fly north to be with them in hubs given the borders are now closed.
Brisbane great Lynch saw the toll on WA teams in Queensland hubs and believes the AFL should still attempt to give clubs a definitive return date after 6-7 weeks.
But he told the Herald Sun last night with venues needing some planning time to host the Grand Final the AFL should award it to the state which won the McClelland Trophy.
“Absolutely it should be in another state,” he said.
“You need time to organise a Grand Final so maybe the interstate side on top at the end of the home-and-away season, that’s where the Grand Final is. You get to host the AFL Grand Final. It’s such an odd season and you could win it for your state. I know for developing AFL states how big that would be and for West Australia or South Australia the opportunity to host the country’s biggest sporting event would be huge.
“People will say how could you have it at the Gabba with 38,000 fans but it’s an unusual year.”
“But having spoken to players in the hubs having no finish line was the hardest. Everyone would respect and appreciate the players if they were able to keep the season going but they should get them home after six weeks and then reset the season.”
A venue selling tickets to the Grand Final would need a long lead-in period to organise corporate hospitality so the league could not award the game to the highest-ranked team that won the preliminary final.
But it would be a huge boost for the team who won the Grand Final for their state even if they did not progress through to the AFL decider.
Victorian clubs had been guaranteed they would return to Melbourne within 32 days by the AFL as recently as Friday.
But having 10 clubs flee the state ahead of a Monday midnight lockdown this week underlines how challenging it might be to get them out of the state and into hubs again.
McLachlan had made clear when the league told clubs to move away from Victoria every plan could change.
“I think it will depend entirely on what is going on in Victoria at the time,“ McLachlan said.
“The government is making decisions to get this outbreak under control and if it’s five weeks from now we will know a lot more,” he said.
“Hopefully it is and if teams are coming back as planned I don‘t think we need a bye. If circumstances are different we will adjust and we may. It is our intention.”
The NAB League was set to resume on August 22 but with no group training or community sport in Victoria for the next six weeks a resumption that early seems untenable.
The VFL season was to restart on August 1 under a seven-team competition but that will surely be pushed back or cancelled.
With cricket set to take over Melbourne ovals on the weekend of October 17-18 any football in metropolitan Melbourne seems a distant possibility.
MORE MONDAY NIGHT FOOTY COMING?
The AFL will release the next rounds of its fixture as soon as this week as it explores the possibility of more Monday night matches later in the season.
The league has scheduled the Round 7 clash between Adelaide and St Kilda for a Monday night at Adelaide Oval, in part to allow the Saints 14 days’ quarantine before they fly to South Australia.
The AFL is hoping to retain its Thursday to Sunday structure but is open to some Monday night games if they help to manage quarantine periods for teams moving between states.
Despite the continual fluid nature of the fixture, the AFL has so far recorded extraordinary TV ratings.
The Herald Sun understands the AFL sent a letter to clubs explaining that TV audiences were up 21 per cent on 2019 figures.
In NSW there was a 16 per cent increase in ratings across Fox Footy and Seven combined, while in Brisbane free-to-air audiences are up 38 per cent.
The Thursday night average of 1.2 million viewers is up 16 per cent — boosted by the 1.62 million viewers who tuned in for the Richmond-Collingwood Round 2 clash.
That game, which restarted the season after a COVID-19 suspension, recorded the biggest Thursday night TV ratings in AFL history.
Friday night averages are up 9 per cent to 1.1 million.
The AFL is beating the NRL by 38 per cent on a Thursday night and 28 per cent on Friday nights.
AFL fixture boss Travis Auld has guaranteed clubs they will return to their Melbourne bases for at least a week in early August.
The AFL might have to introduce a bye for a week or a split round to hand Victorian clubs a break given they would have to re-quarantine if COVID-19 numbers remain high.
“We are open-minded to what it might look like after this batch of five games,” he said.
“If we need to give the competition a week off or teams in Victoria a week off that’s what we will do to meet our commitment.”
Auld also raised the prospect of chasing finals crowds interstate if Melbourne was still unable to host fans, saying the AFL and its players would prefer to play in front of crowds.
He said that while the AFL had a contract to play at the MCG until well into the future, nothing was set in stone.
“If the players had the choice to play in front of a crowd they would take it, as would we. I would love to have a finals series with crowds, love to have a Grand Final with crowds, but we have to look at how that plays out.”
“There are contracts and then relationships and we have had a long partnership with the MCG and what you try to do is work through what is best for right now and to honour the relationship.”
PORT EXPECTING HOME RUN
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Port Adelaide football manager Chris Davies says he is confident the Power will get a run of home games in front of fans at Adelaide Oval when the AFL releases its next batch of fixtures.
Power players and football department staff arrived back in Adelaide on Sunday night after just over two weeks in their Gold Coast hub.
Port will again head to Queensland for its next two matches, starting with GWS on Sunday as the Power look to put a disappointing loss to Brisbane behind them.
They then play Carlton in Round 7, while fierce rivals Adelaide get to play at Adelaide Oval against St Kilda.
It will be the third time the Crows will have played at Adelaide Oval in 2020, compared to the Power’s sole appearance in the Round 2 Showdown.
Davies said he was confident that would be rectified shortly when the AFL releases its next block of fixtures.
“I think the AFL’s intention is to provide some home games for both Adelaide teams, but specifically for us,” he said.
“We can’t wait to be playing back in front of our people and members at Adelaide Oval.
“We’ve got a job to get done in the next two weeks and once that is done we will get back in front of those people.”
Port coach Ken Hinkley said his side was given a “good uppercut” in the 37-point to the Lions.
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