Every new boss inherits a problem they didn't create. For Craig Drummond, barely in the chair as AFL Commission chairman, one of the first items on his desk is a debate that has divided footy fans for years: does the grand final stay in the afternoon, or does it finally go under the lights?
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the commission will move on the time slot question early in 2026, with a decision expected well before the season gets into full swing. According to AFL sources familiar with the process, the league is approaching the review with an open mind, though the matter will ultimately rest with the commission majority acting on a recommendation from the executive.
Drummond himself is a serious operator. The former federal government financial regulator and Medibank CEO brings heavyweight business credentials to the role. He served as a director of the Geelong Cats for 13 years, including four as president from 2021 to 2024, a period that included the 2022 premiership win. AFL CEO Andrew Dillon told the SMH ahead of Thursday night's season opener in Sydney between the Swans and Carlton that Drummond's recent club experience was exactly what the commission needed. "I think what Craig also will bring as a chairman is someone with really recent senior club experience," Dillon said.
On the time slot question, Dillon has not been coy about his own preference. He has favoured a traditional day grand final since taking over from Gillon McLachlan, and he told the paper the decision would be worked through with the new chairman. Throughout its history, the grand final has remained scheduled for the traditional Saturday afternoon timeslot, most recently at 2:30pm AEST, even after night premiership football became common in the 1980s and rival codes like the NRL began broadcasting their grand final in the evening for primetime television.
The case for leaving things alone is not just sentimental. Generations of fans have memories of watching the game at a daytime barbecue with friends and family, and there would be real resistance to changing that. Fan surveys have consistently backed the 2:30pm start. You can hear the argument clearly: the day grand final is a ritual, not just a broadcast slot. Mess with it and you risk alienating the very people the game depends on.
But the commercial argument on the other side is hard to wave away. Channel 7 has been vocal in its preference, with the network saying it would "love to push for that twilight Grand Final as soon as possible." The first AFL night grand final in 2020 attracted a peak audience of 4.283 million, a 30 per cent increase on the year prior, and the 2021 twilight broadcast averaged 4.11 million viewers, the highest-ever audience for a Melbourne grand final in history. Those numbers are not nothing. A sport that wants to grow in NSW and Queensland, as Dillon explicitly stated, has to think hard about whether a Saturday afternoon game maximises its reach in those markets.
The twilight slot has generally been seen as the more likely compromise if the league does move. It was used for the 2021 grand final at Optus Stadium in Perth, and it avoids the sharper controversy of a full night game while still delivering a more commercially attractive broadcast window. The presentations and post-game festivities also require time, and a twilight start gives everyone the room to breathe that a late night game might not.
Fair dinkum, there's a reasonable argument on both sides here, and Drummond is smart enough to know it. At the end of the day, the AFL's challenge is that it's trying to be two things at once: a community game rooted in Victorian tradition, and a national product competing for eyeballs and broadcast dollars in a crowded entertainment market. Those two things are not always compatible, and the grand final time slot is where that tension is most visible.
Dillon's framing of Drummond's vision is telling. "It's about growth in NSW and Queensland. It's about having the fans at the centre of everything that we do," the CEO said. If fans in Victoria want the afternoon and fans in Queensland are more likely to tune in at twilight, who exactly counts as "the fans"? That's the question Drummond will need to answer.
Elsewhere, the SMH reports that AFL Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield is stepping down from the AFL Players Association board after 12 years, six of them as president. Dangerfield shaped two collective bargaining agreement negotiations during that time, and his departure marks the end of a significant era in player representation.
The grand final time slot review is, on the surface, a scheduling question. In reality, it's a test of what kind of competition the AFL wants to be. A quick, sensible decision by the new chairman, one that takes the fan surveys seriously while acknowledging the commercial reality, would be a fine way to start the job. Dragging it out into a distraction would not. Drummond has every incentive to get it right, and get it done.