THE EIGHT IS SET! - AFL boss questioned on controversial finals fixtures 🤔 | AFL 360 | Fox Footy

St Kilda v Carlton Carlton fans are walking a tight rope of nerves he can St and bend him back it's a goal he just kick the goal he's got the goal count out of the final and is it over is it over it's out of your control now bosy unbelievable oh unbelievable unbelievable things here oh my gosh Marvel stadium is sted [Applause] siren the sinking feeling of Despair you emotions after that one yeah we just spent 30 minutes um trying to think about that um no it's heartbreaking it's absolutely heartbreaking um I don't feel like we certainly lost that game on half that's for sure um we lost it in moments it's picked up and driven forward with the Saints ACR up can't take the mark spilling ball Dow Jones Higgins swings it around the corner it wolf it w through it's a goal it is a goal and the Saints are in front S Jones it's going to go to Higgins who has a Snapper on the body it's going to go close oh no oh no the go has been kicked by Jackin Fred St Jones Higgin around the body cooking cooking go he's to the goal it's coming back I think it's there Jack Pig what a goal to put the sights in front as he charges to the wing to C these are the Saints when the SS defeated Caron to heat freem Manel sees it alive gosh the celebrations were gold what is going through the mind of Justin L he knows the equation everyone knows the equation win and they are in we approached it with we had to win and I think only way we can practice for what's next is to have been in a really hostile environment and you can just imagine the reaction around the country from Caron fans it's roli where there's Willie there's always a way P kick clear wherever you've been hting cartton fans the bedroom the year out the back come out you've got to watch this and the team in Te have on a tear P power into the top two as Freo falter at the Finish Carlton fall into the finals as the closest craziest ever Home and Away season reaches it conclusion bring on the finals got any mates who support car because he just did them a massive favor grew up a culton supporter so there's a little soft side in my heart for them been a bit of an emotional roller coaster today which you you don't try and ride him foot too much but um watching a spectator was a bit different for sure they have been tormented all day the Heartbreak and then the reprieve The 8 is set for Carlton the eight is set we wait till Thursday week when it will begin at Adelaide oval Port Adelaide and jalong he couldn't have scripted it any better really if you believe these things are all orchestrated he's been the master Puppet Master Andrew Dylan welcome to AFL 360 good to be here Jared Jordan it this time every week we play a bit of snakes and ladds probably the live ladder did a little bit more than the the snakes and ladds in the end is it'll look in the box schore like it was all very stable it didn't feel that way across the course of the weekend do you have any Calton fans uh any Calton friends yeah I do um sort of the WhatsApp groups were going um I crazy a bit including one of them who'd gone to uh Gone on to Amazon to get a Port Adelaide same day delivery scar so it was uh yeah it was um it would have been a roller coaster for them and it was it was amazing watching and as you say amazing theater um made all the better by you know the incredible players that we've got and uh you know people like Jack Higgins standing up at at an amazing time you wouldn't have believe you could pack that much drama into the climax would you no I think if you if you if if you scripted it people would say that wouldn't work you they wouldn't believe it yes it was could it be goal of the is it would it be a goal of the Year Contender jar the Higgins goal he probably kicked a better one in the Collingwood game from outside the boundary is true it was one of the best and that it would happen in such a way and it would happen to those Carlton fans who lived through the Jamie Elliot moment two years earlier and then they have to sort of try to comprehend it I wondered who would have the stomach for it I like to's sentiment is you going hide in the shed or the garden out in the storm and could you really put yourself through what was going to happen in the west yeah it would have been tough for them but uh you know it's a it's a long season and uh you know and now now the blues are ready for a big final uh Saturday week an ugly incident over over the weekend that's been well documented I'm not too sure what you can say or or where the investigation has been the bottle that's that's been thrown at the Umpire where where does where does that sit as we speak well first of all I spoke to umpire Steve PaPeRo um this morning and and you know first of all he's actually he's okay and he'll be umpiring in the finals he's one of our best goal umpires um it's it's something that we don't want to never haven't seen it before and certainly don't want to see it again um it's in the hands of the police at the moment and when the police finish their investigation um that'll be dealt with there and then uh you know people who do things like that um they don't deserve the privilege of coming to AFL games and I think um you you'll see a sanction from the AFL similar with that so pretty straightforward life ban very yeah very simple yeah um how unsettled was Steve he was in a like pretty good shape today but I think you know he he's at he's at work doing a great job and for that to happen he's just completely unacceptable and it's something that hasn't ever been part of our game and it's certainly not going to become one and um you know as I said it's with the police and um they will deal with it and then and then it'll come to the AFL in the stadium so what do you know from the police so far have they identified the person I understand that they've identified the person and um as I said it's with them at the moment yep and so you let run their course before you step in that's right do you have any indication whether they would be will be prepared to lay charges oh look we I haven't got into that detail with the police because that's uh you know that it's ultimately it's it's their decision how they deal with that and then we've got our um terms and conditions of entry and and how we'll deal with it at at the time and it will be at the appropriate time and it will be an appropriate sanction for Behavior like that the shape of the The shape of the finals final Series so uh there were a few different possibilities and it feels like there's been a little bit of angst associated with it so were the Bulldogs disappointed to get Friday nights in a perverse way look I've spoken to most of the clubs down I don't think anyone's disappointed to be in the finals and you know our fixturing team do an incredible job and as we were talking before the way that round 2 24 landed as you say you couldn't have scripted it so but what the what the team take into account is um attendance broadcast days breaks what's week two and what's week three going to look like and ultimately we also consult with the clubs in the venues as as we're doing that clubs have a view on what's best but I think when it's all said and done they're really happy to be there why was the Bulldogs horth on the right fit for Friday night well I think when we get to you know Friday week and we've got close to 90,000 people at the MCG will know that that was the right fit and but also then plays into how you know them coming sixth and seventh and they'll play the loser of 2v3 so sort of days breaks are also important going into week two on week three and you know if you played finals before know how how important the days breaks are yeah so so that would take um it would hold more weight in terms of the next week when you potentially plays rather than where you finish on the ladder because I think if I'm Sydney I'd love to be playing Friday night maybe have the weekend off longer days to recover rather than playing on a Saturday afternoon yeah look again and that was a um number of conversations with Tom but um they're they're all in for Saturday afternoon it's going to be a cracking uh game with gws they've um gws haven't been around for that long but there's a bit of a story um finals history between the two Sydney teams and uh I think it'll be the third time that they meet in the final and it'll be uh it'll be a big game are there enough advantages for the minor Premier do you think Andrew look as the minor Premier you get um you get the home final you get the double chance and also the way that we have structured it is that if you win that first final you do get the Friday um prelim going into the Grand Final and get that extra days break which at the end of a grueling season and then a um tough finals campaign I think again that's uh that's how it sits for the minor premere it feels like in this instance so the home final is negated because it's a final it's an opponent from within their own State they both have the double chance the only way to give Sydney an advantage was to schedule them for the longest possible break which would have been to play them on either the Thursday night or the Friday night yeah I'm not sure that that necessarily follows because you're talking about if they if they win that game you you've got another um week in between so you're talking a 13 or 14 day break and I think once you get to that level I think um it sort of negates The length of the season itself there's been there's probably a lot of things on your on your plate at the moment the review of the season the feeling from a lot of people is the SE the length of the season is is that something that you're you're willing to review after do you do you think it's too long as it as it currently sits and and the inclusion of the Wild Card round if that was to come in where where do you sit on on that if if we look at the Home and Away season of um the 23 rounds including gather round and that is something that we've got for for next year and the year after with our um agreement with the South Australian government and gather around has been an unqualified success and I think having an extra um double matchup actually helps for when you're you're sort of like balancing out the fixture where you're not playing everyone uh twice um so I think we've got it at the right stage now but when tazy comes in in 2028 when we go to a 19th team you've got an uneven number of teams the math says you have to play an even number of games so that will be a pointing time in 2028 when we look to that in relation to the wild card it's a um it's a tantalizing possibility but it is something that has a lot of work would have to go into that now if you look at how the ladder fits now and we'd be sitting this weekend with I think the Hawks playing free manle and carton playing Collingwood it'd be a huge weekend but the final eight also has been in place for a while it's served the competition very well so uh we had a conversation with the CEOs in the middle of the year it came up as something that deserves further investigation and that's incumbent on the AFL to look at that but we take into account feedback from broadcasters venues and most importantly our clubs and our players so what what would be a reason to do it well I think one of the reasons would be um from a broadcaster point of view on a weekend this weekend where we've got um nine games of AFL W some men's content on on on this weekend I think that would be of interest to the broadcasters I think to um Collingwood and freemand fans at the moment I think that would also be of interest to them as well it might take uh the interest in the Home and Away season a little bit longer with more teams being involved and then there's um if if you're looking at downsides we've got a final eight that has stood the test of time uh it is a long season already and and the like so as I said there there's a lot to go into it and it wouldn't be a um it wouldn't be a rush decision to bring that in were you at all worried by dead rubber syndrome over the last or particularly on the Friday Saturday but even back a couple of weeks does it bother you that team season lose hope a fairway out the way that things sit look you can say that and then you look at the silder team who you know ultimately you could say they didn't have anything to play for it didn't look like that to me when I was uh you know you only have to look at the way the the S players celebrated after the way the fans did that I think going back a few weeks before that when the West Coast played North Melbourne down at blunstone Arena and the way the fans and the and the West Coast players celebrated that win I think that there's um there's something writing on every game and you know um yeah I I just think you know it's such a privileg and the players who are playing they've all got something to play for so I think um yeah look it's a long season and and some of the um games on the weekend probably weren't as close as we would have liked but um I think overall it's working pretty well is the week off still necessary this weekend yeah well when when we say the week off we've got nine aflw games but I think what what that has allowed us to have since it's come in it allows for for from a scheduling point of view to have a Thursday night final which I think is um is a bit of a fan favorite I think it also allows the teams that have made the eight to take stock and really set themselves for a finals campaign and since it came in in 2016 um we've also seen incredible attendances at all of the finals so um at the moment I don't see any reason to change that