West Coast fans have spent the night celebrating after the Eagles out skilled Collingwood to clinch the AFL grand final. The Magpies got off to a fast start, but West Coast clawed back the lead to win 79-74 in front of 100,000 strong crowd at the MCG. Image: Philip Hillyard / News Corp Australia

The 2019 home and away season is just around the corner, but the opening game has been pushed to the side as debate around the league rages.

As the JLT enters its final days and the season draws closer, the biggest talking point doesn’t surround the in-form teams or star players, instead it all centres around the start time for the AFL Grand Final.

It’s a debate that has gained traction over recent years with the front office of the league continually hinting change may be afoot.

Comments from AFL commission chairman sparked a flurry of backlash over the potential shift in the start time to the biggest game of the year.

“While we’re all traditionalists, a twilight Grand Final with the right entertainment would be amazing,” Goyder told the West Australian.

“We asked the club captains last year and the majority of them said they’d love a twilight Grand Final.

“Everything has to line up — you have to take the fans with you and there has to be good reason to do it.

“But, at the right time and for the right reasons, I think we should give it a go.”

But there is one glaring issue with the AFL’s alleged plan to shift the time of the Grand Final and they refuse to come clean.

It's been talked about for a long time, and now it seems a twilight Grand Final is close to happening. The AFL chairman is now backing the move, despite many fans still not being convinced. @tdolling #7News pic.twitter.com/NlMoshlZE0 — 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) March 9, 2019

While there has been support over the potential change, the majority of the feedback has been quick to slam the proposed plan from the AFL.

Almost every poll the AFL or Herald Sun have run on the subject have seen the preferred start time for the Grand Final remain in the 2:30pm timeslot.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett unleashed an almighty tirade over the powers to be at the AFL after hearing of the potential shift.

“The level of governance at the AFL … they should’ve been put up ­before (chair of the banking Royal Commission) Ken Hayne, I tell you,” Kennett said to the Herald Sun.

“They’re appalling. I’m totally disgusted at the way they’ve performed.”

But while Kennett was quick to slam the alleged plan, several other higher ups within AFL clubs were in support of the move.

Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale, Sydney chief executive Tom Harley and Brisbane chief executive Greg Swann all stated they’d were open to the twilight game.

Here we go again- Final decision on AFL Grand Final time slot for 2019 to be made next week.



With the continued talk and the fact the AFL still has it on the agenda surely means a twilight Grand Final is imminent. — Shane McInnes (@shanemcinnes) March 4, 2019

AFL Fans Association president Gerry Eeman, like Kennett, was quick to slam the proposed move of the big game.

“Poll after poll shows a clear ­majority of fans don’t want it,’’ Mr Eeman said.

“So why do something your largest stakeholder clearly doesn’t want? It’s not a lineball ­decision, it’s a clear majority.”

The voice of the fans should be the biggest driver for the AFL when subjects like this come up, but to some “it’s clear the AFL won’t stop” until a night Grand Final is achieved.

All of this talk has reignited just days out from the 2019 season getting underway and follows on from an all-time classic Grand Final contest that unfolded between West Coast and Collingwood.

The AFL continue to drive the narrative of change coming to the biggest game of the year, but frustration of fans stems from the league hiding the real reasons behind the motive.

As Jerry Maguire so eloquently put it … “show me the money!”.

It’s clear that the powers that be at the #AFL won’t stop until they have their night grand final. Might as well just concede defeat and give it to them instead of a half-arsed twilight version. I hate it and all of the polling I’ve see says that fans do too but we don’t matter. — Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottliebFOX) March 9, 2019

If the AFL moves the grand final to a twilight timeslot and says it is to make it more ‘family friendly’ I will spew up. Fan polls consistently endorse a traditional afternoon grand final. If you move it, own it – just say it is to make more money. Don’t treat the public as fools — Lachie Young (@lachie_young) March 10, 2019

Half time of up to 29 minutes. 🕺An epic of a GF last year. The AFL getting close enough to the end of the rights deal to trial a twilight GF in a year or two as a bargaining tool. 💴 💰 Pretty good arguments to keeping a day GF right now — Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) March 4, 2019

Past greats of the game have also had their say on the topic with Jimmy Bartel and Tim Watson sitting on either side of the fence.

“It doesn’t bother me, personally. It’s something cool about being during the day but as a player, you’ve just got to wait until later in the day to play (if it moves to night),” Bartel said on Macquarie Sports Radios’ breakfast show.

“I really believe it should go to a twilight, I’ve always been against it. I’ve been a traditionalist for so long,” Watson said on MSR’s Halftime with James Willis.

“But just watching the NRL, who do it really well, having the night aspect towards the end of the game I think it just blends in beautifully and I think its time we change and get a little proactive with this.”

But the biggest issue in the entire conversation doesn’t centre around how past greats or even club bosses feel, the AFL is overlooking the game’s biggest stakeholder, the fans.

Each year the Herald Sun runs a poll asking for feedback from fans on all aspects within and surrounding the game.

The question of the timeslot for the Grand Final is always included in the poll and each year the results have been conclusive, leave the game where it is.

Five years of Herald Sun polls on Grand Final timeslots:

2019 — 72% ☀️

2018 — 74% ☀️

2017 — 71% ☀️

2016 — 72% ☀️

2015 — 74% ☀️



AFL Players surveyed last year:

75%☀️

22% 🌗

3% 🌙



Fans and players are united — 2.30pm ✅



Over to you, AFL Commission ..https://t.co/7J3pnLrFyS — Sam Landsberger 🗯 (@SamLandsberger) March 10, 2019

The AFL Commission will revisit one of the game’s most contentious topics next week, with a decision on the timeslot for this year’s Grand Final to be announced on Thursday.

Channel 7 and Foxtel hold the AFL media rights until the end of 2022, so a change could come before a new deal is secured to show how lucrative the move is.

But if the fans have any real voice in the game, the Grand Final will remain at its traditional 2:30pm timeslot for the foreseeable future.