Wreck It Ralph: Jon Ralph’s 17 observations from Gather Round
Gather Round III is officially done, and if there’s one key takeaway, writes Jon Ralph it’s that no matter if there’s higher bids, the AFL can’t consider moving the festival of footy.
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Gather Round III is officially done, so what did we learn from the third festival of footy in South Australia?
For starters, why should the AFL hold it anywhere else?
1. GATHER ROUND IS THE FEEL-GOOD FOOTBALL FESTIVAL OF THE SEASON
Opening Round is the feel-bad weekend.
The challenge now for Andrew Dillon is to keep all the incredible Opening Round metrics that help the northern states flourish early while fixing the weekend’s clear concern.
So many football fans feel shut-out of a weekend that should generate so much excitement about the return of football after five months away.
It is the total contrast to the euphoria felt by so many fans who spend the weekend in Adelaide.
The easiest remedy is a Sunday night blockbuster in Melbourne.
Maybe throw in a Monday night clash as well.
It doesn’t do a single thing to detract from four northern-states clashes.
It doesn’t stop a single one of them signing up to a club membership at Brisbane or Gold Coast.
But it starts the season with a bang rather than a whimper.
2. IT SHOULD’T TAKE PLACE ANYWHERE ELSE, SOON
The only way to equate the goodwill vibes of Gather Round is to compare it to the London or Sydney Olympics this century.
Anyone at those festivals or sports would remember the pride and patriotism of the local fans.
The Adelaide people are so keen to showcase their city.
“How do you like Adelaide” is the question dozens of times a day.
It’s not needy, it’s pride in the state’s improvement and their desire to share it.
They are so proud of Adelaide Oval and the huge leaps this city has made in its culture, its fine dining and its sports experience in the past decade.
The reality is that any other Gather Round in any other city will be a pale imitation of what Adelaide has built.
Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham said as much at the club’s Friday breakfast.
It would be a catastrophic decision to sell it to a higher bidder and give up its unique gifts.
So what is the way forward?
Consider Gather Round in Tasmania in 2029 as the only point of difference IF the new stadium is built, and in Brisbane in 2033 when the new Olympic stadium is handed to the league.
But Andrew Dillon is too smart to torch all that the city has built just for a bigger rival offer.
3. HOW WILL ADELAIDE IMPROVE THE 2025 VERSION?
SA premier Peter Malinauskas summoned Andrew Dillon over to the LIV Golf recently — the day after the Indigenous All Stars game — to show him that event’s corporate hospitality.
Could the AFL consider the kind of September Club-style entertainment next year that allows fans to be wined and dined on the adjoining Adelaide Oval lawns before finding their seats?
The LIV corporate packages sell out in a heartbeat — they are astronomical already and go up in price by the year.
Adelaide has so many elite restaurants but the AFL has never stopped attempting to monetise its product for the high-wealth individuals who want that elite experience.
Test matches at Adelaide Oval include the Village Green, where fans can find plenty to eat and drink before and during games.
So keep building the corporate hospitality while also enhancing the community feel in the precinct around Adelaide Oval for the rank-and-file fans.
4. WHEN WILL A NEW DEAL BE DONE?
Malinauskas believes that this year’s economic impact statement will reveal over $100 million in benefits for the state, up from $90 million last year.
He barely needs to time the announcement of a new extension to help his re-election campaign, given his ridiculous popularity.
That economic impact statement usually takes a month to be formalised and puts both parties in position to haggle over the financials.
But an announcement ahead of next March’s election would make some sense given it would allow the SA government time to release that statement then haggle with the AFL over a likely price rise on a deal that costs about $30 million in cash and infrastructure build.
5. GIVE KENNY HIS MONEY BACK
In a week where Andrew Dillon broke his promise about not using Hinkley’s aeroplane salute in wall-to-wall AFL promotion, Port chairman David Koch was right to call the AFL out as hypocrites.
So, find a clever way to say you were wrong.
Don’t hand back a big Happy Gilmore style cheque, but donate $50,000 to Hinkley’s favourite charity.
Have some fun with it.
It would break the perception the po-faced AFL can’t poke some fun at itself or admit its error.
Think of the millions the AFL reaped — with record-breaking attendances across Gather Round — from that Sunday night clash.
It is the least the AFL can do.
6. WHERE WERE THE CLOSE ONES?
On a day when Rory McIlroy’s grand slam gripped the sporting public, the review of Gather Round will show that the only thing it was missing was close contests.
The Brisbane Lions v Western Bulldogs clash was a cracker, but in the end no contest finished within three goals.
It is the peculiarity of a fixture packed with potential that didn’t quite deliver.
7. TWO DIFFERENT STYLES FOR TWO RISING STARS
What a total contrast in the management of Sam Darcy and Harley Reid, two AFL megastars in the making
Reid has been happy to cash in on his huge WA fame and has a range of lucrative sponsors he is happy to service.
It has made him a very rich boy very early.
Darcy, who took a good contract but perhaps not the absolute top dollar, is rarely seen outside his AFL appearances but will still make $20 million from football across his career.
He has the huge advantage of being exactly where he wants to be, without WA media properties trying to build him up and rip him down in a weekly cycle.
But it is a softly-softly approach probably in keeping with his own personality.
Neither of those approaches is wrong, they are just diametrically opposed.
8. BAZ IS TRULY BACK
Patrick Dangerfield joked that Bailey Smith had barely won a contested possession in his first few contests at the club.
Against Adelaide, Smith had a season-high 17 contested possessions amid one of the most extraordinary running displays in recent memory.
Funnily enough, he wasn’t in the top five distances covered on the day — Alex Neal-Bullen logged 16.3km ahead of Gryan Miers (16.2) Ollie Dempsey (15.6), Max Michalanney (15.1) and Mark Blicavs (15).
But to see Smith roar across Adelaide Oval from contest to contest was a sight to behold.
As a midfielder his feat of power running reminded Jonathan Brown of the great Ben Cousins.
9. THIS VERSION OF DANGER SHOULD SCARE RIVALS
Is it possible for a player to remind you of Tony Lockett and Cyril Rioli all at the same time?
It is a left-field mix, but Patrick Dangerfield has again introduced the fear factor at Geelong.
He hits contests with such percussive force you can hear the hurt he is instilling in defenders when he hits packs.
He crashes packs like Lockett, but is also quick enough to make them panic as they try to find corridor options with Dangerfield trying to hunt them down.
Against Adelaide he won 93 per cent of his touches in the forward half and still played only 106 minutes of 131 minutes.
The only pity for Chris Scott is that his coaching mastery and tactical tweaks are disguised by the stars he has at his disposal who help drag games back in Geelong’s favour.
10. CONTRACT DISCUSSIONS ARE ALL A MATTER OF TIMING PART 1
Chad Warner’s manager Luke Morabito was at Adelaide Oval on Friday night, with the star midfielder having all the information he needs to sign his new two-year deal.
He loves the club, loves coach Dean Cox, is happy playing his new mid-forward role and isn’t especially fussed with the scrutiny over his deal.
So he might take a few more weeks to re-sign, but how in god’s name could he move to West Coast?
He would be getting the same kicking Oscar Allen and Tim Kelly are receiving for the side’s failures.
Harley Reid was barely sighted despite 16 touches off half back.
How can he stay?
The club’s performances are giving him the perfect excuse to follow Tom Scully, Tom Boyd and Jason Horne Francis as No. 1 picks to leave their clubs within the first two seasons.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Matt Rowell aren’t in their first two seasons, but are other No. 1 picks currently considering their futures.
Of all the No. 1 picks this century, consider those who have moved clubs — Luke Hodge, Brendan Goddard, Adam Cooney, Brett Deledio, Bryce Gibbs, Jack Watts, Scully, Jon Patton, Boyd and Horne-Francis.
The Eagles are in an impossible position, knowing if he leaves he will follow Horne-Francis’ path as an instant superstar as soon as he gets fit.
If they hold him to a third-year deal it’s a circus next year and he might leave anyway.
11. CONTRACT DISCUSSIONS ARE ALL A MATTER OF TIMING PART 2
Is there anything Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera can’t do, after adding goalkicker to his resume against GWS with three goals and another high possession tally?
St Kilda has a strong level of confidence about securing Tom De Koning, aware Carlton just cannot offer a dollar more for the ruck-forward.
There are officials there who quietly believe they will land their man.
Amid the conjecture over whether Luke Davies-Uniacke actually deserves his $1.3 million salary, no St Kilda fan would worry if the club had to pay a deal of that scope.
Adelaide could front-end any offer to put Wanganeen-Milera’s 2026 salary closer to $2 million, but there is no salary St Kilda should not match.
12. KEN CAN STILL FIND THE MAGIC
What a fascinating contrast, with the Hawks aware Ken Hinkley’s fire and brimstone approach to their clash was always going to differ to Sam Mitchell’s analytical approach
As it turned out, fire and brimstone won the day.
He might be 58 years old but he still has that Johnny Northey-style capacity to go to the mattresses.
And his players lap it up.
To hear Connor Rozee lauding Hinkley post-match was to realise why for all the criticism of the succession plan, moving on Hinkley this off-season would have been a jarring, season-affecting decision for the players.
He might take a year off to compress next year, but of all the elder statesmen massing as coaching candidates — John Longmire, Adam Simpson, Nathan Buckley and more — that ability might still win him a coaching job over the three men who have taken their teams to Grand Finals and premierships.
13. JUST HOW BIG THE LOSS OF WILL DAY IS
Sam Mitchell asked his medicos and physios last week if Will Day would be back before the finals and they couldn’t give him an answer.
Mitchell said post-match that Day would never have been worth a 10-goal margin, but he also knows he might be worth two to three in all those big games the Hawks have again.
The Hawks’ best guess is that Day’s navicular fracture will put him out for a minimum of 14 weeks, but one setback along the way will put his return date right around finals.
They just can’t risk him after a second year of foot stress issues, even though the treatment of those issues is more advanced than when it cost Matt Egan his career.
The Hawthorn midfield didn’t wave the white flag — it still won centre clearances 19-14 and lost total clearances by only five.
But this will not be the last time this home-and-away season Day’s absence is bemoaned.
It might be the difference between a home final and the kind of away clash that the Hawks lost to Port Adelaide last year.
14. WHO LEADS THE PLAYERS NEXT?
By every metric Paul Marsh has done an outstanding job winning massive pay rises for his players — AFL and AFLW — across recent CBA deals.
That doesn’t mean clubs aren’t hoping his departure allows them to harden the new drug code with a more punitive approach.
So far the AFLPA has fought a rearguard action against changes that might include players being fined more for drug strikes and some kind of co-payment system so the AFL doesn’t fit the entire bill.
Surely Marsh’s replacement won’t roll over, but get set for a renewed push to change the drug code substantially rather than just ask for club doctors to crack down on the ratbags.
Club chief executives have already thrown around potential replacements, with one-left-field idea being Fremantle great Matthew Pavlich.
He is clearly doing too much lucrative media work to consider it, with the Dockers great and former AFLPA president (2015-2017) considered by some for an AFL Commission slot recently.
He is only 43 but is thought of so highly in the right circles that his future moves will help shape the game, either as a commissioner or key administrator in football.
Among those who would be considered are former AFLPA executives Brett Murphy (recently departed), James Gallagher (now at North Melbourne), and Ian Prendergast (who will run the new AFL program upskilling executives for higher honours).
Former AFLPA president Joel Bowden, recently a Northern Territory parliamentarian, would be another who might get a call as part of the executive search.
15. BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
Clubs were told at the chief executive’s gathering that Tasmanian participation numbers were up 27 per cent last year and Auskick numbers were 38 per cent up.
It came about after the introduction of the Tassie Devils brand amid an upsurge in interest that saw insane membership take-up across the state and country.
New CEO Brendon Gale tried to assuage the fears of clubs on Friday but, as one rival boss said this week, they have never seen him more stressed.
He has to balance exploding building costs for the Macquarie Point stadium and the reality that no matter if the approval is fast-tracked it will still need to be ticked off by the upper house.
That chamber of parliament includes independents who are dining out on picking holes in the stadium business case.
16. MAKE NO MISTAKE, A WILDCARD WEEKEND IS COMING TO THE AFL
It is just a matter of when.
The league has repeatedly put fixture innovation on its agenda in recent seasons despite its knowledge traditionalists hate the concept.
The league asked clubs to consider it on Friday and will form a working party to work through ideas for the 2029 season.
With a 19-team competition, the AFL simply won’t stand for so many teams being out of calculations for an eight-team finals comp early in the season.
The NBA’s play-in tournament has added valuable millions to the broadcast rights, guaranteeing sold-out games and massive ratings in games with the playoffs on the line.
With a seven-year TV deal locked in, the players will have to get on board to continue growing AFL revenue.
As one club CEO said, the alternative is keeping salaries at their current level in the new TV deal from 2028 onwards, instead of winning more big pay rises.
17. CHANGE IMMINENT?
If this season does go pear-shaped for Carlton, look for Graham Wright to take control early to make the key football changes that will set up the next period of success.
Wright is the CEO-elect and while Brian Cook is still in charge of the fortnightly meetings with the seven key departments in his charge, he says Wright will begin to take more control.
But let’s be frank — Carlton brought in Wright as a football CEO, not someone to improve the bottom line.
Michael Voss was proud of how the Blues backed in their football program and didn’t blink lead-in to the Eagles game.
But Wright would already have real clarity on what is and isn’t working after time in the coaches box.
And we know from his move sacking coach Nathan Buckley that he would make the tough calls if needed.
There does not appear to be a mood for change in the senior coaching position, even if the season falls away.
But while the Demons don’t even have a permanent CEO as they approach a decision on Simon Goodwin’s position, the Blues have a succession plan that places them perfectly to tackle the challenges ahead.
Originally published as Wreck It Ralph: Jon Ralph’s 17 observations from Gather Round
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