I see in the paper today that AFL Victoria are going to have a bit of a review as to why the Grand Final attendance last week was so poor.
Reality is that they got just under 11,859 to a game between traditional rivals - Port and Williamstown. I would say you'd account for at least 2,000 who went for the TAC Cup when you account for parents, friends and recruiters. There were a lot of teenagers there during the U18 game which involved two Metropolitan sides.
So, do they accept that about 12,000 is all they can ever get to the Grand Final, or do they do something about it?
Some discussion points...
(1) Review the timeslot. Maybe the Friday night experiment wasn't given long enough - should it be tried again? What about the Sunday following the AFL Grand Final?
(2) Change the venue. Etihad doesn't work, it's not popular. Maybe 10,000 at North Port would be better than 12,000 at Etihad.
(3) Bring the Reserves Grand Final back to the big day. In a lot of cases, the reserves teams and the reserves players are the heart and soul of a VFL club. They deserve to be the curtain raiser.
(4) Admission pricing. Is $20 a bit steep? Personally I don't think so, but are casual onlookers going to be interested in spending $20?
