AFL News: Grand final time confirmed for 2023, Gill's stadium ultimatum for Tassie team amid protests

The AFL has again resisted the urge to switch to a lucrative twilight grand final, electing to play this year’s decider in the traditional day timeslot.

The AFL Commission ended the yearly debate when it met on Wednesday, locking in a 2.30pm start for the grand final to be played at the MCG on September 30.

A whopping 73 per cent of those polled in an AFL Fans Association survey in March want the AFL grand final to remain an afternoon affair.

Outgoing AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has held firm in his preference for a day grand final as he prepares to hand the reins over to Andrew Dillon.

“The Commission will continue to review the start time for future grand finals,” McLachlan said on Wednesday. 

“The AFL’s role is to deliver the best possible game experience, both for fans at the ground and for the millions watching the broadcast, and together with our broadcast partner the Seven Network, we remain committed to creating an amazing event, both in the build-up during the week and culminating in 100,000 fans at the MCG.

“The fans this season have been incredible with more than three million fans attending matches across the first nine rounds – the biggest and loudest crowds in the history of the game to this point of the season – and come the last Saturday in September, it will be by far the biggest event of the year.”

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AFL experimented with night grand finals in 2020 at the Gabba and 2021 at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

After serious pressure from fans and members, the AFL decided to revert to an afternoon decider last year as Geelong thrashed Sydney at the MCG.

Seven West Media boss James Warburton has consistently argued for a night grand final.

Warburton renewed his push for a night spectacle following a ratings slump in television and streaming ratings during last year’s one-sided grand final.

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

McLachlan hands down stadium ultimatum

The AFL will not consider pulling out of its expansion into Tasmania, despite the planned new stadium in Hobart causing chaos within the state’s parliament.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s government was forced into minority status last week after Liberal MPs Lara Alexander and John Tucker quit the party over concerns about the planned $715m stadium in Hobart.

Thousands of people protested outside state parliament on Saturday, with unease over debt and government transparency about the funding of the proposed Macquarie Point complex.

Tasmanian Opposition Leader Rebecca White on Tuesday declared Labor would campaign to have the stadium scrapped, and expects there to be an election this year.

Rockliff is in charge of the last remaining Liberal government in Australia.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is not concerned about the AFL’s 19th team falling over, and said he would not intervene in Tasmania’s political situation.

“I just think this is an incredibly important moment for Tasmania and Tasmanian football,” he said at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday.

“If you want an AFL team, it comes with a stadium, and people have had their views about that, but it’s now funded.”

The Tasmanian government will spend $375m on the 23,000-seat stadium, while the Commonwealth will chip in $240m.

“It is something that comes together, you can’t have one without the other,” McLachlan said about the stadium being a requirement for Tasmania’s licence.

“It’s actually now a moment that will actually change Tasmania.”

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan and Deputy PM Richard Marles. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

He pointed to the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval and the build of Optus Stadium in Perth as transforming those cities’ CBDs.

“It’s easy to oppose things, it’s easy to point to alternate uses of capital,” McLachlan said.

“But actually the business case around this is about tourism, construction, economic impact, pride.

“But in the end, I think Tasmania wants an AFL team.

“The deal is funded, and I’ll let the politics play out day-to-day.

“Absolutely it’s reasonable for individuals and others to have their views.”

White said Tasmanian Labor would actively campaign against the stadium ahead of the next state election.

“We will always have the view that Tasmanian taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook,” she told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“What we’re asking the government to disclose is what deal has been done with the AFL, because we do support the team.

“We don’t believe a stadium is the right priority for Tasmanian taxpayers to be funding in the middle of a health, housing and cost-of-living crisis.”

Rockliff hit back at White’s stance.

“Any suggestion we can have a team without a stadium is just fanciful. It will not happen,” he said.

“Without the stadium, the team is dead, as are over 4000 jobs, and billions into our economy.

“Ms White must now explain to all Tasmanians, including the many kids who were overjoyed when we were granted our licence, why she will kill off our AFL team, once and for all.”

Tasmania will be the first expansion team since GWS entered the AFL in 2012.

A men’s team will join the AFL in 2028. The timeline for a women’s side is yet to be worked out.

(AAP)

‘Lost games for Carlton’: Wayward Blue’s inaccuracy savaged

AFL journalist Mark Robinson has teed off at Harry McKay, saying his inaccuracy in front of goal has ‘lost games for Carlton’ amid the Blues’ poor run of form.

McKay, who last year put pen to paper on a seven-year deal tying him to Ikon Park until 2030, has kicked 12 goals and 11 behinds this season, including a goalless evening in the Blues’ recent loss to the Western Bulldogs that featured an ugly snap.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Robinson said McKay would go down as ‘one of the worst long-term signings’ in Blues history unless he can solve his goalkicking woes.

he’s an $800,000 player and Carlton have got him until 2030… Harry McKay has to fix himself, because Carlton can’t have a player for the next seven bloody years kicking the ball like that,” Robinson said.

“It will turn out to be one of the worst long-term signings they’ve made, or Harry has got to somehow get through these mental demons and he’s paid to get through these mental demons.

“He’s got to fix it – he has lost games for Carlton, that is a fact.

“Other players have played bad, but Harry has had the opportunity, ball in hand, to win games of football and he hasn’t.

“That hurts Carlton, that hurts Vossy [coach Michael Voss], that helps pour the scorn and the vitriol and the pointing of fingers at Michael Voss and the administrators of the club.”

The Blues sit outside the eight after nine rounds with a 4-1-4 record, and face ladder-leading arch rivals Collingwood on Sunday.