The jury is still out on the AFL’s Opening Round, with footy greats growing increasingly sceptical of the concept ahead of the first game of the season in Sydney on Thursday night.
The Sydney Swans will host Melbourne at the SCG in the first of four games held outside of Victoria on the first weekend of the AFL season.
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Brisbane will play Carlton at the Gabba on Friday night, before Damien Hardwick’s Gold Coast Suns take on his old side Richmond on Saturday afternoon.
Opening Round wraps up on Saturday night when GWS host reigning premiers Collingwood at GIANTS Stadium in Homebush.
The AFL is determined to spread the game in NSW and Queensland and attract more fans from states that haven’t traditionally been supporters of Aussie Rules.
Players from the four teams playing in Sydney posed for photos on Wednesday in front of a banner emblazoned with the slogan: “Opening Round has a new postcode.”
It’s an interesting and not particularly catchy marketing strategy, given Opening Round has never been held before and it’s unclear what postcode the AFL is even referring to.
Capacity crowds are expected for the four games in Sydney and Queensland, but there is mounting criticism from the AFL fraternity that the league has botched its pitch to win over fans from rugby league heartland.
The news of the Opening Round fixture move first broke in September after the NRL revealed it would launch its season in the US, playing at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
It left the door open for the AFL to come in an poach the northern markets, which have traditionally been rugby league territory.
After the NRL spent the summer clogging the airwaves with the talk of Las Vegas, the AFL plotted to swoop in under their rivals noses.
“While you go on holidays, we’ll rob your house,” GWS Giants director Jimmy Bartel said at the time.
The NRL will be playing the remaining six games of their opening round, with the Eels-Bulldogs match on Saturday evening the only one in Sydney along with the Gold Coast-Dragons clash on Saturday night and Dolphins-Cowboys Sunday afternoon both being played in Queensland.
The Eels-Bulldogs game on Saturday will be held in Parramatta, just a short drive from the Giants-Collingwood clash at Sydney Showgrounds.
St Kilda greats Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna told the Footy Talk podcast the narrative about the AFL eating into NRL heartland just doesn’t make sense.
“It might be a bit controversial but I feel a bit jibbed,” Montagna said.
“I feel like we’ve been sold a bit of a lemon coming into this Opening Round.
“When it got announced in November we were going to change it up and open the game up in the northern states, we were told it was because the rugby would be in Vegas, there was going to be no NRL on and it was a great opportunity to eat into the northern market.
“You do realise there’s NRL on all weekend and it starts on Thursday night. There is NRL in NSW the same time that Sydney are hosting Melbourne to start the season.”
Riewoldt replied: “Wasn’t this the whole thing, ‘While you’re away we’ll rob your house?’
“Isn’t that how the AFL pitched it? Have they messed up the calendar? How have they got this so wrong.”
Montagna said: “I’m not sure this is going to have the impact. I don’t quite understand why we’re bring these games forward when they could still be part of Round 1 next week and have their own free airtime.
“I just wonder whether it’s defeating the whole purpose of this Opening Round.”
Riewoldt asked: “Did the game outsmart itself this week? Have we got the typical Round 1 buzz this week? Probably not.”
Montagna said: “No, it’s a soft opening, isn’t it? When you dive deep into it, the NRL have games all weekend, and the AFL could have done that next weekend.”
“We usually get it right over the NRL guys, but certainly not on this occasion,” Riewoldt added.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch this week, Jonathan Brown roasted the league’s “opening round” concept for missing the point after the NRL’s Las Vegas showcase has already come and gone.
“For the whole summer, it’s been trumpeted that we’re going to take on the NRL when they’re in Vegas, we’re going to hijack their territory — when the cat’s away, the mice will play,” Brown said.
AFL Opening Round (all times AEDT)
Sydney Swans vs Melbourne Demons — Thursday 7.30pm @ SCG
Brisbane Lions vs Carlton — Friday 7.40pm @ Gabba
Gold Coast Suns vs Richmond — Saturday 4.20pm @ Heritage Bank Stadium
GWS Giants vs Collingwood — Saturday 7.30pm @ GIANTS Stadium
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