Why pubs and Irish expats are behind the AFL’s call not to move sold-out clash
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In today’s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:
- Laura Kane has defended the AFL’s call to host the Australia v Ireland women’s clash at North Sydney Oval.
- Craig McRae has opened up about premiership-winning small forward Bobby Hill.
- Chris Scott has heaped praise on assistant coach Nathan Buckley, who lost out on the Tasmania Devils coaching role to Ken Hinkley.
AFLW boss Laura Kane has defended a decision not to shift the competition’s looming international match to a bigger stadium, despite the game’s boutique venue, North Sydney Oval, selling out.
The league has come under fire from fans and past players for not opening up the first-ever Irish-Australia women’s clash on August 1 to a larger live audience by relocating it to the SCG.
AFLW players Georgie Prespakis, Taylah Gatt, Jesse Tawhiao-Warlaw and Sophie McKay.AFL Photos
The intimate North Sydney Oval holds fewer than 10,000 people.
But Kane said the league had monitored ticket sales and waiting lists to inform their decision.
“When we announced this game, we wanted to create an amazing atmosphere, and so a sellout is incredible,” Kane said on Tuesday.
“Do I want to be, you know, in future talking about the MCG, the SCG or Marvel Stadium? Absolutely, I do, and we will get there.
“But for now, our priority is making sure that we have a packed-out stadium, and we are going to get that with North Sydney Oval.
“It’s such a great place to play footy, and really, it comes down to the data. What does the data tell us around what our fans want to do? When it tells us that we can fill the SCG, we’ll play there.”
Instead of seeking a bigger venue, the league opted to work with Sydney pubs to set up fan zones for the city’s large Irish ex-pat community to watch the game.
There are no AFL matches fixtured in Sydney that weekend.
Laura Kane at the AFLW season launch.AFL Photos
Former Carlton and Brisbane Lions star Lauren Arnell called the decision “baffling”.
“You’re already telling people two weeks out, ‘You can’t come’,” the former Port Adelaide coach told the ABC. “I just feel like you are limiting the game.”
But Kane, the AFL’s executive general manager of AFLW, health and football operations said the league had turned its attention towards attracting a larger TV audience once the stadium sold out.
“We want people watching it in their lounge rooms. We want people watching it at restaurants, at pubs, at venues all over the country – not just in Sydney,” she said.
The AFLW season starts on August 9 when St Kilda and Carlton clash as part of an AFL double-header at Marvel Stadium, which coincides with ‘Spud’s Game’, held in memory of Saints great Danny Frawley and to raise money for and awareness of mental health.
Kane said the AFL was continually looking to reduce the number of AFLW venues, having already cut ground numbers from 38 to 27, and had done away with computer chips for ball-tracking technology.
“We want to make sure that we have the best technology available for both of our competitions, AFL and AFLW … and we felt that the time was right to evolve to vision and video review,” she said.
“Both Greg Swann and I are looking at, ‘What does optical tracking look like?’, in the context of all venues that we play at, notwithstanding that there’s a few extra W venues that we play footy at.
“What is the long-term solution? At the moment, the best technology that we feel [is] available for score review is video and the video review system, but it’s always something that we’re looking at improving.”
- Danny Russell
‘A lot of love and care’: McRae’s heartfelt message to premiership star
Jon Pierik
An emotional Craig McRae says Bobby Hill will forever be a beloved Magpie, as Collingwood and the Norm Smith medallist prepare to split.
McRae said on Tuesday he had not seen Hill for some time, the star small forward and father of three dealing with personal issues.
Happier days: Bobby Hill embraces teammate Nick Daicos during a Collingwood training session.Eddie Jim
Hill has spent significant time away from the club over the past year, managing only three VFL games this season, and appears certain to part ways with the club.
“[I] haven’t seen Bobby in the building for a while, which it’s always something, as a coach, you go, ‘[I] hope the young lad’s going OK’,” McRae said, his eyes almost welling up.
“If you’re out there, Bobby, we’ve got a lot of love and care for you, and still do, and [we] never, never change, [and] never waver in our love and support for the young man.
“We’re always trying to remain connected, and sometimes [it’s] a bit harder than other times.”
Hill is contracted until the end of 2030 on a deal worth about $750,000 per season, league sources say.
McRae said he had attempted to contact Hill, who has played 108 games across eight seasons with GWS and the Magpies.
“There is an emotion attached to it ... there’s the playing part, the high performance of what he’s capable of doing for our team and for our supporter base, and then there’s the other personal part of, as a father, [you] get emotional thinking about a young man with three kids,” McRae said.
“We want the best for all our players [who have] come into our environment, [to] be good humans, and be a good father and a good husband. Those things that we’re trying to instil, but yeah, environments change and shift, and so [we’ve got] lots of love and care for them [Hill and his family].”
The eighth-placed Magpies head to Adelaide for Thursday night’s clash against the Crows on a roll, having won five straight in a stretch of games they had targeted. Now comes a refresh with a new theme, but the Magpies may be without Scott Pendlebury, who could be rested.
“Howey’s [Jeremy Howe is] back and someone has to go out – [there are] lots of [players in] good form, and players deserve to keep their spot ... I anticipate that ‘Pendles’ plays. That’s probably where it’s going to land,” McRae said.
Josh Daicos (ankle) did not train on Tuesday, McRae adding a final call on his fitness could be as late as game time. Howe, the premiership backman, trained strongly and will return. Fellow defender Isaac Quaynor, who had a minor wrist issue in the last quarter against Carlton, is also expected to play.
The Magpies will celebrate Jordan De Goey’s 200th game, McRae saying the robust midfielder was in the best form he had been in during his coaching tenure. De Goey, pushing for All-Australian selection, is contracted until the end of 2027, and is keen on a multi-year extension, league sources say.
The Crows, without the suspended Izak Rankine, won by 14 points when the two clubs met at the MCG in round one.
‘He would have been a great Tasmanian coach’: Scott’s praise for Buckley
Danny Russell
Chris Scott says his decorated assistant Nathan Buckley will escape any negative perception that is usually associated with applicants missing out on senior coaching jobs.
Buckley joined the Geelong coaching panel at the start of this season to enhance his chances of landing the Tasmania Devils role.
Nathan Buckley missed out to Ken Hinkley on the Tasmania Devils coaching job.Getty Images
But the fledgling club announced this week it had overlooked the Collingwood great for Ken Hinkley.
“I suspect if Tassie get the opportunity to talk publicly about him, they would say similar things to me, ‘He was an outstanding candidate and would have been a great Tasmanian coach, but the fit wasn’t quite as good as the other guy’, who just happens to be one who coached for 15 years in the AFL, or thereabouts” Scott said.
“There’s no shame in running, I don’t know whether he ran second, but let’s assume he ran second to Ken Hinkley – there’s no shame in that.”
The Geelong coach said Buckley’s willingness to publicly announce his interest in the Tasmanian position spoke to “how secure he is in his ability, and his position in the game”.
“It seems to me that it is quite rare that a coach puts their hand up and says, ‘This is something that I want, and I’m prepared to go through the process’,” Scott said.
“He didn’t only go through the process, he went back to work, which, obviously, has been a real positive for us.
“I suspect it won’t happen that much, so if you like his way of going about it, make the most of it now because I don’t think you will see it too often.”
Scott said it was less likely younger candidates would put themselves on the line in the same manner as Buckley.
“The likelihood for all the candidates for these positions is that you are probably going to miss, irrespective of how good a job you do,” he said.
“Inevitably, the kind of perception could be, ‘Well, there must have been a good reason why someone didn’t get the job’.
“I think the reality is more likely that you could actually be a fantastic candidate, you are just not the right fit for that point in time.
“But again, the perception of that can hurt, in particular young coaches. In that context, I am certain that the negative perception won’t apply to ‘Bucks’.”
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.