Bye a winner, says AFL chief

AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan has defended the contentious pre-finals bye weekend, saying while he would not guarantee it forever, there would need to be a compelling reason to shelve it.

McLachlan said no decision would be made on what happened next year until a full assessment of this year’s finals had been made.

But he has been buoyed by last year’s record-breaking finals series and forecast another big September.

“We made a change for known reasons,” McLachlan said yesterday. “We think there’s actually been a lot of upside because of it.

“We dealt with an integrity issue and then last year’s finals series was remarkable. I’m not sure why (there is) continued speculation.

“The ticket sales are strong and we’ve had a great year.”

But he stressed the bye after Round 23 would continued to be assessed: “You can’t guarantee that it will be here forever. I can’t give you that commitment.”

Only last week Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson took a swipe at the bye, saying it compromised the clubs who qualified for the top four, and gave too much of an advantage to the team outside of it.

McLachlan said the Western Bulldogs’ premiership triumph last year, after finishing seventh at the end of the home-andaway season, showed how the bye gave clubs the best possible chance to have the best players available at the right time.

He said the AFL was able to better showcase other major events such as the AllAustralian team, the Rising Star, AFLW State of Origin and the EJ Whitten Legends match, as well as ensuring players have the best chance of playing.

“If last year is anything to go by, where we had the highestrating finals series, the thirdhighest attended, the quality of the football and contest was unbelievable,” he said.

“I am not sure what the downside is.”