The AFL would have us believe their vision is splendid. At the weekend, they spent thousands trying to convince us that Greater Western Sydney was splendid vision.
They weren’t…
Sydney won the AFL’s brand new traditional rivalry by 63 points.
A fledgling club, the Giants need marketing and exposure. They got it, and there was voyeuristic merit in showcasing the new club. That they performed better than expected against a seasoned club was a bonus.
The game, though, didn’t deserve stand-alone status. Nor did it deserve to open the season. It wasn’t going to be competitive and the crowd was never going to be huge. The AFL’s newest grudge match, however manufactured it was, should’ve been buried among the rest of the round.
Geelong should’ve played Collingwood in the stand-alone, season opener. As last year’s grand finalists, surely they’ve earned the right to open the season.
The AFL is missing a big opportunity to give the fans immediacy. The opening game of the season should always be a rematch of the previous year’s grand final.
It is a concept the AFL should embrace, one the fans would really get behind.
If Geelong played Collingwood at the MCG, it would’ve attracted about 90-thousand fans, one group intent on maintaining the dominance, the other trying to erase the memories of a dreadful day. The AFL could’ve promoted it as a real grudge match.
The game wouldn’t need hype. It would hardly need marketing.
Geelong and Collingwood are at short odds to get another shot at a premiership. The match-up, six months on from the grand final, would’ve provided dramatic insight into each club’s prospects, how they’ve handled injuries, mental fatigue and retirements.
Fans from both clubs would’ve been rabid during the build up. Geelong captain Joel Selwood could’ve posed with last year’s premiership cup. Nick Maxwell could’ve claimed rights to another.
The AFL could’ve given the game a label, the grudge match or grand final revisited or redemption or dominance.
Whatever the moniker, it was a missed opportunity for an organisation built on hype and marketability, a governing body that wants to destroy its rivals.
To succeed, the AFL must kill the cynicism. People watched the opening game between Sydney and GWS because it was football. There was passing interest, just to see how the Giants would go, not because the match held any significance beyond the debut of a club.
GWS lost an unwinnable match in front of 38,203 people. There was intent – four points available, but the occasion was hollow, without oomph. Few hearts pounded heavily. No one, aside from the combatants, involved themselves in every play or squirmed in their seats.
It was more sideshow than main event, freaks and clowns rather than musclemen.
When a grand final is lost, pride and dignity are lost too. Victory provides the only redemption. It is amazing the VFL didn’t and the AFL hasn’t made more of an obvious opportunity to open the season with the most meaningful match-up available.
Since 1970, only nine of the previous year’s grand finalists have played each other in round one. The AFL hasn’t shunned the possible season opener, but they’ve not embraced it either.
The list below shows the clubs, year and result:
|
Year |
Clubs |
|
|
1977 |
North Melbourne |
60 pts |
|
|
Hawthorn |
|
|
1980 |
Carlton |
38 pts |
|
|
Collingwood |
|
|
1983 |
Carlton |
60 pts |
|
|
Richmond |
|
|
1987 |
Hawthorn |
45 pts |
|
|
Carlton |
|
|
1988 |
Carlton |
15 pts |
|
|
Hawthorn |
|
|
1990 |
Hawthorn |
115 pts |
|
|
Geelong |
|
|
2007 |
West Coast |
1 pt |
|
|
Sydney |
|
|
2008 |
PortAdelaide |
9 pts |
|
|
Geelong |
|
|
2009 |
Geelong |
8 pts |
|
|
Hawthorn |
|
Only two clubs from the list above, North in 1977 andGeelongin 2009 went on to win the premiership. Four of the games resulted in blowouts, always a risk, but the occasion would be worthy.
Between 1990 and 2007, none of the grand finalists played against each other in the next season’s opening round.
By folly or design, West Coast played Sydney in 2007. The Eagles won by a point. In 2008, Port Adelaide defeated Geelong by nine points, avenging, somewhat, their hammering in the grand final.
In 2009, Geelong beat Hawthorn by eight points.
Those three games should’ve been enough to convince the AFL to persist with the grand final rematch in the opening round.
Instead, the AFL is trying to create tradition where it isn’t necessary. Hopefully Sydney and GWS won’t get the opening slot next year.
Besides, they upstaged Carlton and Richmond, traditional season openers since 2008. In those four years, neither club has done anything to earn the right. It is becoming a Thursday night tradition because the AFL decrees it.
Trying to create an instant tradition often backfires. The opening game to any season must be a grand final rematch.
There would be no need for hype, and that’s always a good thing in sport.
People need to get excited naturally. Football doesn’t need Viagra.
