Gillon McLachlan sees sunlit uplands for AFL after coronavirus

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it is possible Australian rules football may ultimately be improved by the coronavirus crisis.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan. Picture: Getty Images

Despite the carnage caused by the coronavirus, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it is possible Australian rules football may ultimately be improved by the ­crisis.

Competitions across Australia are closed. The majority of football department employees and administrative staff have been stood down throughout the country. The AFL was forced to secure $600m in funding to help several clubs stay afloat and there are fears for teams in every league, with historic VFL club Preston already closing their doors after Carlton severed their partnership.

But with the health outlook for Australia having improved in recent weeks, the optimism of the AFL boss has grown.

McLachlan believes the crisis can create an opportunity for improvements at every level, though he acknowledged the probability of some differences in the way the game looks from 2021.

“It will look different but not less. The opportunity here is to be more efficient, to look at structures that have been challenged. There are things that are going to be changed,” he said. “I do think that we are going to come out of this, from the community level to the elite, the core of what we love about our game will be the same and hopefully there will be things about our game that are better.”

The AFL administration has received praise for securing a credit line that will allow the league’s 18 clubs to remain afloat through the shutdown and beyond. But despite the dire financial predicament facing the majority of clubs, there are indications of unease about allowing the AFL to hold too much ­control. Essendon declared their determination to retain their independence this week and shunned AFL support, while Fremantle are hopeful of holding out for as long as possible before asking for additional assistance.

St Kilda president Andrew Bassat has sought assurances from the league that clubs who receive additional assistance on top of the current funding model will not be disadvantaged when it comes to their on-field performances.

His uncertainty comes amid reports more powerful clubs are pushing back against drastic cuts of more than $3m a season — effectively a third of the budget — to their football departments.

But McLachlan is adamant the league will continue to employ the competitive balance measures that have been a foundation of the AFL for decades.

“Right now, we don’t have any contemplation that it will look different to the way it has been, with the caveat … that the one constant we have in our competition is that things change,” he said.

“We are flagging at the moment that we know we are going to look different, but hopefully things are more efficient and improved.

“The reason we have variable funding is an acknowledgment that, for a variety of reasons including historical and stadium economics and other different challenges, none of those reasons will have gone away.

“Competitive balance is an important part of the AFL system — it has been a huge part of our success — and competitive balance will be the cornerstone of our policy going forward.”

McLachlan is in regular consultation with Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton and said he is encouraged by the progress in the fight against coronavirus.

The AFL is set to make a decision later this month on when footballers will resume training with a view to restarting the season, July appearing a likely target.