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Round 1 of every AFL season provides fans and pundits alike with an opportunity to dissect every second of action and draw some rather quick and often deluded conclusions.
After listening to the rantings and ravings of Mark Robinson this week you would think North Melbourne are in danger of losing their AFL status and being banished to the VFL following a poor first-up showing in the city of churches.
He wasn’t on his own either and perhaps after a long off-season many of the journalists are feeling starved and want to make a splash in an already saturated market.
In reality Round 1 has no more importance than any other round during the home-and-away season. Just to reflect quickly on last year’s Round 1 results, the Giants toppled a wounded Sydney, the Gold Coast were too strong for Richmond, the Bombers beat their local rivals North Melbourne while West Coast apparently sent a warning to the competition with a ten-goal thrashing of the Bulldogs.
History would show that Richmond recovered to play finals, North Melbourne and Sydney made the pointy end of the finals while West Coast’s early charge ran out of steam by the middle of the year.
It is very important to take a deep breath, or as Adelaide coach Phil Walsh suggested “take a cold shower”, and allow the season to roll into May and June before jumping to conclusions. One thing which can be scrutinised is how the AFL as an organisation has performed and Gillon McLachlan’s changes since taking over almost a year ago as CEO from Andrew Demetriou.
Between a combination of off-field controversies and the tyrannical rule of Demetriou, with inflated prices and terrible fixturing to suit television demands, fans felt forgotten and responded with their feet. Crowds dropped away in 2013 and again in 2014 as no longer did people want to stump up $5 for a bottle of water on a cold Sunday at 4:40pm to watch their team play.
Demetriou took the supporters for granted, which saw him slump away early in 2014 with his legacy tarnished.
McLachlan showed early in his reign that he was a man of the people and that their attendance was paramount to the game’s overall success. Addressing what was causing the headaches, McLachlan negotiated a significant decrease in stadium food prices, has allowed children free entry to games on Sunday (a notoriously difficult time slot for supporters) and returned to playing games at more family friendly times against the wishes of the major television networks.
The game has seen benefits, too. Over the NAB Cup and first week of the new season the holding the ball rule has returned to its original status and no longer is dropping the ball allowed to be play on, much to the delight of supporters.
Recently retired champions Luke Ball and Brad Sewell were added to the Match Review Panel to ensure the punishments for offences were justified by those only just removed from the game. The result thus far has been a fairer and less complicated system easily understood by the footballing public.
The results speak for themselves with crowd attendance up over 100,000 from Round 1 last year and 20,000 above the corresponding 2014 Easter weekend.
More to the point the AFL continue to prove they are willing to listen. Following Round 1 the league reached out to fans via social media and asked them what they enjoyed and what could be improved. Fans loved home sides being responsible for their own pre-game entertainment with the Thursday night Carlton effort a highlight. They were also pleased that the roof was finally closed at Etihad.
They weren’t so thrilled, however, with the strong LED lighting coming from advertising boards during the game or across at Etihad on Saturday with the loud noise during quarter-time breaks. Unlike in the past when Demetriou would have blamed the stadiums and put up the iron curtain, the McLachlan crew have been quick to publicly acknowledge the teething problems and address them.
The AFL is streaking away from its competitors in terms of what it offers to fans by simply listening to them and providing them with the best experience possible.
Many are quick to criticise the AFL as an organisation when problems arise but upon reflection of McLachlan’s first year in the job, while he has had to contend with many off-field issues, the game in its purest form has seen a marked improvement from this time last time.
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