Season 10 of the ladies’s competitors delivered severe thrills, however th AFL shouldn’t be patting themselves on the again; North Melbourne v Brisbane Lions; Collingwood Magpies

The AFL refers to them as “boutique” stadiums. They aren’t. They’re nice native suburban parks, however they’re climate uncovered, usually with run-down services, they usually’re troublesome to entry.

Victoria Park, Moorabbin and Punt Street work as a result of they’re usually shielded from the weather and accessible to followers. They’ve a hill, and in the event you can “fill the hill” you create an environment that individuals wish to be a part of. Brisbane’s Springfield and Sydney’s Henson Park have proven the way in which.

TV broadcasting

The AFL has tried to drive attendance on the expense of tv scores. However it hasn’t labored. Crowds and TV scores are stagnant. We have to unlock the magic and energy of TV.

Sports activities broadcasting comes all the way down to the 4 Cs: it is advisable see a crowd, present a champion, throw in a personality, and supply a contest.

Final weekend’s preliminary remaining between North Melbourne and Melbourne had all 4: anxious Roos followers biting their nails, champion participant Jas Garner profitable the sport off her personal boot, Dees purpose kicker Eden Zanker winding up former teammate Libby Birch by rubbing her eyes in her path, and an exciting climax. It had the 4 Cs, and was must-watch TV.

Wind-swept suburban stadiums the place the TV cameras are set as much as shoot empty components of a floor have footy followers reaching for the distant faster than pollies speaking about tax reform.

The NRLW has taken a unique strategy, enjoying double-headers and at greater stadiums.

This yr’s grand remaining, which was performed on the identical day as the lads’s and on the similar venue – Sydney Olympic Park – produced file tv scores. Greater than 1 million viewers tuned in, and there have been almost 50,000 there in individual. The northern states are working rings round Victoria with regards to their girls’s competitors. Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has confirmed funding works.

Marvel Stadium

That brings me to the AFL’s personal stadium. The final girls’s recreation performed at Marvel Stadium was three years in the past, when Hawthorn and Essendon performed their first recreation within the AFLW and 12,000 followers crammed the underside tier. The broadcaster aimed their cameras down and tightened their photographs to get rid of the empty prime ranges from the published. It was loud, the standard beneath the roof was higher, and the all-round manufacturing mirrored the standard of a males’s recreation.

Tonight’s grand remaining ought to be performed at Marvel Stadium. It’s not about filling the 50,000 seats (however extra fan would attend). It’s additionally in regards to the high quality of the TV broadcast.

Would you relatively sit in your sofa and watch the sport performed in good situations, permitting the gamers to point out off their talent units, whereas listening to a vocal, packed backside degree at Docklands? Or would you relatively watch a presumably moist, dour contest the place followers sit uncomfortably on splintered benches or wonky previous seats, braving the weather?

I do know the place the pre-match leisure Peking Duk would favor to play.

Marvel Stadium ought to be used to host extra marquee video games, and it ought to host the grand remaining yearly. Then everybody related to the season’s showpiece is aware of the place and when it is going to be performed, relatively than ready for the previous couple of weeks to work out whether or not league heavyweights, sponsors, and pre-match entertainers might be required to fly wherever between Ipswich and Fremantle.

The proper time of yr

I feel all of us agree that, ultimately, the ladies’s competitors ought to be performed alongside the lads’s in winter. However the concern is it’ll get swallowed up by the AFL juggernaut. Proper now, the clear air in October’s sporting calendar is essential to selling the game and attracting new followers.

For the primary time this yr we bought a take a look at the 2 competitions crossing over, and the TV scores for AFLW fell off a cliff as everybody tuned into the ultimate two rounds of the lads’s home-and-away season.

So, protecting the competitors alive in October is sensible. However at what level does footy fatigue set in? Taking part in the grand remaining tonight – smack bang in between the opening two Ashes Assessments– appears ludicrous. It’s too late within the yr.

I’d transfer the season ahead a month. Reasonably than staggering the lads’s byes over a five-week interval, why not return to all males’s groups having one weekend off in July?

That might place the ladies’s grand remaining over the Melbourne Cup lengthy weekend. The sporting capital of the world is heaving forward of Cup Day and the race at all times attracts loads of curiosity from Eire. Think about an Australia v Eire consultant recreation on the Friday night time at Marvel Stadium, adopted by the grand remaining on the Sunday night time.

Reward the very best groups

Please don’t let Collingwood open season 11 subsequent yr. The choice to faucet into the membership’s large membership and hand the Pies the season opener towards Carlton the previous few years has backfired spectacularly.

Why would you reward a membership that hasn’t taken the ladies’s recreation significantly for the final decade? They completed fifteenth this yr with three wins after claiming the wood spoon final yr. It’s a staff that struggles to kick massive scores, so that they don’t need to be on the large stage.

Absolutely the reigning premiers deserve the best to unfurl their flag in a grand remaining re-match, or a double-header at Marvel that includes 4 top-eight groups can be rather more interesting on the TV than a Carlton v Collingwood conflict at a half-full Ikon Park.

So what subsequent?

Concepts? Innovation? Convey on 2026, I can’t wait to see what the AFL has in retailer for the ladies subsequent yr.

Dangle on a minute.

They quietly introduced a number of months in the past that season 11 can be precisely the identical: the identical variety of rounds, on the similar time of yr, on the similar suburban venues.

Because the saying goes, the definition of madness is doing issues over and over anticipating issues to alter.

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