Saturday afternoon ‘not option’ for AFL’s big dance
ANY chance of a Saturday afternoon Grand Final in Melbourne in October is done after Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula confirmed the spring racing carnival would get priority.
The AFL has moved its tentative Grand Final date from October 24 to October 17 with plans to squash Rounds 9-12 into 19 consecutive days, starting on Wednesday, July 29.
Instead of a clash with the Cox Plate, the decider could now clash with the Caulfield
Cup, as Melbourne’s spring racing carnival takes place throughout October and early November.
But while debate is raging over a potential Grand Final location, with all 10 Victorian teams shunted to Queensland for the remainder of the season,
The Weapon Pakula said a Saturday afternoon was out, a position AFL boss Gillon McLachlan confirmed to him on Thursday.
“If the AFL Grand Final happens to be on 17 October, or on any of our feature race days, the AFL will work around racing – whether that means putting
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Conditions apply* it on at night, or the Sunday – but it definitely will not go head-to-head with the race meeting,” Pakula told RSN on Thursday morning.
“The Caulfield Cup will get clear air as it should.
“It’s July, it’s at least three months before the Grand
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Final. A lot can change.”
Pakula said it was his “hope” that the Grand Final would be at the MCG.
McLachlan said on Wednesday that there had been no decision made about the Grand Final’s location as states begin to lobby for it.
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