AFL boss says footy’s return to the MCG will boost morale

Richmond will unveil their 2019 and 2020 premiership flags when football returns to the MCG on Thursday night for the first time since last July amid great excitement in Melbourne.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, pictured with members of the McLeod Football Club, at the MCG on Wednesday on the eve of the 2021 season. Picture: David Crosling

The heartbeat of Melbourne will find a rhythm closer to normal when football returns to the MCG on Thursday night, according to AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

When McLachlan takes his seat at the ground for Richmond’s clash with Carlton, the Tigers will again be starting out to defend a premiership.

But this time the AFL boss will not be alone, as he was a year ago when sitting white-knuckled in a corporate box attempting to come to grips with a pandemic that threatened the country and the code.

Instead there will be 50,000 fans in attendance for the 2021 season opening clash as football returns to the MCG for the first time since last July.

Although the home of football will only be half-full due to COVID safe capacity restrictions, there will be more than enough fans to create an atmosphere sadly lacking at the handful of games played in Victoria in 2020.

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On Wednesday, AFL grounds in each state blew their sirens in unison to signal the start of a competition fragmented last season by border closures and bubbles.

Ahead of big games in Melbourne, there is an energy in the city and surrounding parks, along with traffic snarls along Punt Rd and other routes towards the ground.

Bars and restaurants are buzzing from Richmond to the city and Yarra Park is filled with kids kicking Sherrins to their parents as the anticipation builds.

“I personally think it will be massive. The economic impact of our game, I think, is known,” McLachlan told The Australian.

“This is a live event, sporting town. Restaurants, bars, concerts, sport. It is how we live. It is in our DNA and clearly in our culture.

“People on Thursday night, they will be back in the city, to the extent they can, going to bars and restaurants and parking in car parks and having beers at the footy.

“We will have limited crowds early but hopefully they will be at full force later in the year and I know it will have a huge impact for a lot of Australians across the country, both economically and socially.”

The only person McLachlan saw at the MCG in the corresponding clash a year ago was Lewis Martin, Channel 7 Melbourne’s managing director, and that was from a distance.

Richmond president Peggy O’Neal had planned to unfurl the Tigers 2019 premiership flag in front of at least 90,000 fans.

Instead she watched the game alone in the Maurice Rioli Room at the Tigers’ headquarters on Punt Rd.

The flip side to that is that on Thursday night O’Neal will watch Richmond fans and long-serving former player and administrator Neil Balme unfurl two premiership flags as they begin a bid for a hat-trick as the competition favourites at $4.50.

“Every premiership is wonderful. There is enough pressure without putting a number on it. If you do the right thing, it takes care of itself,” she said.

The eve of the 2021 season was not without controversy. To the bemusement of some, the AFL on Wednesday confirmed a substitute player would be deployed this year.

Adelaide also cut ties with Tyson Stengle, who broke AFL rules and criminal laws last year in a series of disciplinary breaches.

There is intrigue as to which clubs will handle the reversion to 20-minute quarters after the game time was cut to cope with the challenges of last season, and also about how the man on the mark rule will influence strategy.

But there is great optimism around the competition.

Carlton will unveil new recruits Adam Saad and Lachie Fogarty as they bid to return to the finals for the first time since 2013.

Other clubs look to do the same over the weekend, while the Kangaroos have a new coach in David Noble.

Brisbane has already set a new membership record, passing 31,000 on Wednesday.

The Lions are considered the biggest threat to Richmond’s threepeat alongside Port Adelaide and Geelong, with West Coast listed as a $10 contender.

McLachlan said it is wise to remain prudent with coronavirus complications still possible. But Thursday night will be another step towards normal in Victoria, at the very least.

“The rhythm of our game, both community football and also the elite, is absolutely important to the way we live our life and how we interact with communities,” McLachlan said.

“There is a big role to play. I am excited for our supporters, who have been so loyal and so engaged, that next weekend, all things going well, they will be there at the footy.

“They have been existing to some extent nationally, but in Victoria in particular and nationally, I am looking forward to it personally as much as I am sure our supporters are.”