Grand final decision to be left as late as possible: CEO
GILLON McLachlan says a series of recent conversations with club football departments and coaches has convinced the AFL it could leave a decision on the venue of this year’s grand final as late as possible.
The AFL’s acting football operations manager, Andrew Dillon, has sought feedback from clubs across the past week about finals contingencies.
McLachlan said those discussions had left the AFL comfortable that it could “play the shots as late as we can” in terms of locking into finals venues.
In the wake of Victoria going into a sixth lockdown on Thursday, the AFL chief executive conceded a return of crowds to games in Melbourne before the end of the home-and-away season was now highly unlikely.
But while he admitted the AFL had been talking about contingency plans, he refused to rule a line through the MCG as the venue for the scheduled September 25 premiership playoff.
“I want to be really clear about it. Our view and our expectation is that we will be playing the grand final at the MCG,”
McLachlan said on 3AW. “(But) things can move very fast. It is with the blessing and understanding of the Victorian government that we are chatting to all the states (about venues).
“We are not just talking to WA, we are chatting to all the other venues – (but) respectfully not New South Wales.”
He said the AFL wanted to keep its options open in case of “a snap lockdown leading into a grand final”.
McLachlan said: “We have been talking to the clubs, and specifically the football departments this week … Andrew Dillon, the head of football, has been doing that.”
“There is just a much different mindset than there was a couple of years ago about how flexible and how agile our clubs can be,” he said.
“We don’t need much notice (to change fixtures and venues). We can wait until very late in the home-and-away season to know how the finals are going to be played out.
“That is comforting. It means we can play the shots as late as we can.”