THE AFL GRAND FINAL would be in a different Australian city each year, if Port Adelaide senior assistant coach Michael Voss had his way, and it could well be played at night.
The Brownlow Medallist knows his way around a Grand Final too, having played in four in-a-row in the early 2000s, including holding the premiership cup aloft on three occasions as captain of the Brisbane Lions.
It’s understood the AFL commission will consider the Grand Final’s timeslot on Thursday when it meets with some discussion surrounding a move from the traditional day time slot to a twilight first bounce.
The time of the game doesn’t concern Voss much, nor did he expect the players to be too worried.
“If I’m playing in it, no because I’m in it,” he joked at a press conference on Thursday.
“Play it at midnight if you like!”
Voss was more concerned with where the game is played.
“I probably have more of an extremist view,” Voss said.
“I sit in the basket where the grand final should be played in different states every year and states should bid for the grand final.”
“It would improve the infrastructure of our game throughout the country so I only see massive positives in being able to do that.
“The grand final has gone beyond being an AFL game. It’s an event.
“People come to it and it doesn’t matter where it is played -- people would go to it.”
In the NFL in the US, the Super Bowl is played in a different city each year.
Voss said doing that with the AFL in Australia would help improve the game’s reach.
“We’re trying to grow our game right across the country and I see a scenario, that if that was ever to be thrown up – and let’s be honest it’s pie in the sky because there’s an agreement in place that says it’s going to stay at the MCG for a long time – but I only see positives in the growth of the game of being able to shift it around the country,” he explained.
“If states are able to bid, that means we’re going to have bigger stadiums, which means we can grow as an AFL code, and when you’re taking on other codes like the NRL, then I see it only as a good thing.”
As for any timeslot change Voss was all for it.
The AFL would have to weigh up the requests of a range of stakeholders, not least the host broadcaster Channel Seven.
Voss said even the NRL had moved to a twilight or night Grand Final since 2001.
“We have a fantastic venue obviously clearly with the MCG but if we can increase that spectacle, I guess being north of the border I’ve seen the NRL move its timeslot and it’s a great spectacle,” he said.
“There’s wonderful opportunities how we could make it better -- why wouldn’t we look at it?”
