AFL Daily: Hawks star’s car stolen as police investigate; Scott walks back ‘flippant’ jab

Geelong coach Chris Scott has moved to clarify what he called a “flippant” jab at the AFL that was “not intended to be taken seriously”.

Meanwhile, Hawthorn star Jack Ginnivan has had his car stolen prior to departing for Gather Round. READ ON IN AFL DAILY.

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Scott clarified his eyebrow-raising Easter Monday comments on Friday, saying he “didn’t intend to be taken seriously”.

Speaking candidly after his side fell to Hawthorn by one point, Scott told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 regarding the introduction of the wildcard finals: “I tend to think they (the AFL) just made it up; just threw in a couple more finals for no good reason except cash.”

At his weekly press conference on Friday before jetting off to Adelaide for Gather Round, Scott walked back those comments.

“It was a flippant comment,” Scott said. “I didn’t intend to be taken seriously.

“We as a club are very supportive of the AFL innovating and trying new things. At the same time, it’s a bit like rule changes — if you bring a rule change in and it doesn’t work, change it.

“There seems to have been this conservative idea previously that we can’t do anything for fear that it might not work and we’d never be able to change it.”

Scott said he was supportive of the league generating more revenue, so long as that money was being reinvested back into the game in the right places — regarding which the Cats boss says there have been past “differences of opinions”.

“I don’t think the AFL should (shy away) from the fact that they actually are in the business of trying to generate revenue, because they wouldn’t be able to generate revenue if the public didn’t want it,” he said.

“And then it’s the AFL’s job to reinvest that money back into the game. Now, I think, over the last five years, there have been plenty of conversations behind the scenes around how that money is reinvested back into the game, and there are differences of opinion on that.

“But in a general sense, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the game’s looking to make more money, because when that happens, on the balance of probabilities, most people win.”

HAWKS STAR’S CAR STOLEN

Jack Ginnivan’s car is believed to have been nabbed overnight, as the Hawks gun prepared to travel to South Australia.

Seven’s Xander McGuire first reported on Friday that Ginnivan noticed his Nissan was missing from his Richmond home while preparing for his flight to Adelaide.

It’s unclear at this stage whether the thieves knew the car belonged to the 23-year-old, whose Hawks prepare to face the undefeated Western Bulldogs on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval.

In a statement obtained by Seven on Friday, police confirmed they were investigating the matter.

“It’s understood the grey 2025 Nissan Patrol was stolen from (his) street sometime between 6pm on Thursday April 9 and 9.30am on Friday April 10,” the statement said.

“A report was made to the Police Assistance Line, and the matter is now being investigated.”

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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‘DEBATABLE’: SWANN’S SAY ON ARC RELIANCE

One of the contentious storylines from the Gather Round opener between Adelaide and Carlton was the number of ARC reviews for last disposal out-of-bounds decisions.

The AFL Review Centre has been called upon more frequently to confirm line-ball calls since an incorrect last disposal free kick went against Adelaide two Thursdays ago in a momentum-swinging passage.

But the amount of reviews – and particularly ones in low-consequence moments early in games – was called into question at Adelaide Oval last night, with triple premiership star Jack Riewoldt one who noted the amount of interventions on Fox Footy.

Speaking on Friday morning, AFL football boss Greg Swann addressed the prospect of games seeing an excessive number of ARC reviews for last-disposal out-of-bounds.

“It’s a really good question. It’s one we’ll continue to review, because we want to get it right,” Swann told SEN Breakfast.

“And we certainly want to get it right deeper into the game, because they’re the ones that can swing it at the time.

“So, whether you need to spend as much time (reviewing) in the first quarter as you do (with) five minutes to go in the last quarter is debatable.

“But at the minute, we are going down that path (of more reviews per game), if they can do it pretty quickly.”

RELATED — ‘Poorer look for our game’: AFL greats call out rule flaw as Blues left ‘irate’

Swann confirmed the review crackdown came off the back of the Tom Atkins incident at GMHBA Stadium a fortnight ago.

“The Atkins one, it just took too long to get a call, and then they didn’t make a call … because they didn’t have time, and then off they went,” he said.

Asked if he was happy with the new level of review intervention, Swann said: “Well, that’s the debate — like, how often, and how many times, and what stage of the game do you do it?

“I was (happy) last night (in Adelaide vs. Carlton), because I just thought the conditions meant it was really grey as to whose free it was.

“I just think you want to get it right. That was the thing with the Atkins one … and if we can fix it, we should. It was better last night.”

HOW DEVILS COULD FORCE GATHER ROUND FIXTURE CHAOS

Adelaide could play two games in the 2028 Gather Round as a result of Tasmania’s entrance into the competition, according to a report.

It comes as the future of the showpiece event continues to be navigated, with the Devils’ inclusion set to create an uneven 19-team field.

And while the AFL and South Australian government remain deep in talks over a long-term Gather Round deal, the Herald Sun reports the Crows, in one scenario, could be asked to play two games in the single week to accommodate all 19 sides, starting from 2028.

According to Jon Ralph, in one concept, Adelaide could play a game on the Monday and another on the Sunday against the 19th side.

Or in another, less desirable proposal, the Crows could play on the Wednesday night and then the Monday night, on what would be a five-day break between games.

Ralph reports “that is not the preference of clubs including Adelaide”, with the minuscule break a clear disadvantage.

One more scenario stated in the report said a non-Victorian side could be left out of proceedings, in what would be a contentious decision, given it would fundamentally go against the concept of having the entire AFL converge on one region for the weekend.

The call for a non-Victorian club to miss out would come due to Victorian sides’ undeniable drawing power.

This weekend represents South Australia’s last confirmed Gather Round as hosts, with the Malinauskas government seeking “certainty” beyond a one-year deal.

“If the AFL make it a year-in-year-out proposition, I think they’ll do themselves a disservice, and also footy itself,” Malinauskas told Nine on Tuesday.

“So, give us the long-term contract, we’ll invest into the future and make more locations like the Barossa.”

AFLW BOSS CONFIRMS FIXTURE BOOST

AFLW executive general manager Laura Kane has confirmed the league will feature four double-headers with AFL matches next season.

The league’s crossover period is Rounds 23 and 24 of the men’s season, with the AFL’s floating fixture to add flexibility in finalising the women’s schedule.

At least one of the four double-headers will come at Marvel Stadium, as the competition places a focus on getting in front of more existing footy fans.

“One way we can be bold is to play double headers in our big stadiums,” Kane said on Thursday.

“So this season, we’ll play double headers, having men’s and women’s games played on the same day in the same bigger stadiums.”

The revelation comes after several clubs reportedly lobbied for double-headers to be part of the 2026 AFLW fixture.

To this point, in nine years of women’s footy, only six AFL-AFLW double-headers have been fixtured, with the MCG hosting the most recent one in 2024.