Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans has suggested the AFL should force Victorian clubs to play home finals interstate, in a bid to even up the advantage they receive by having the grand final played in Melbourne.

The league’s decider will remain at the MCG until 2059, as part of a deal between the AFL and the MCC government; the partnership has long been a source of frustration for the non-Victorian clubs.

Speaking to News Corp, Evans, who was previously the AFL’s Football Operations General Manager before being appointed to the Suns position at the start of 2017, made the suggestion to highlight the ‘inequity’ faced by non-Victorian teams in finals.

“There’s lots of good reasons why we don’t want the Grand Final to be taken out of the MCG – tradition, the contract and revenue. But it’s an incredible advantage for a Victorian team to play a non-Victorian team on the biggest day of the year,” Evans said.

“So would we be prepared to flip the advantage the other way in week one of the finals when the Victorian team has earned the right to have a home final?

“Would we be prepared to take that final to the interstate teams’ venue and give them the advantage in week one of the finals? It makes it easier for that interstate team to progress through the finals as compensation for not having that advantage in the Grand Final.

“I think it’s a great highlight of the inequity… if we wouldn’t accept that because of a lack of integrity or fairness in week one of the finals, why would we accept it in week four of the finals? In the biggest game of the year?”

Adding to Evans’ frustration is that the Suns, who have never reached the finals in their 13-year history, play just one home-and-away match at the MCG in 2024, in the final round against Richmond.

“We play at the MCG in round 24. We’re thinking about ringing up Taylor Swift to see if she’s got any tips on how we should play the ground,” he cheekily added, with the pop sensation having played three concerts at the venue before the start of the season.

While Evans’ suggestion will almost certainly be knocked back by the AFL, especially with Victorian powerhouses Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon all looking likely to secure home finals which could bring attendances of up to 95,000, his proposal highlights the growing discontent with the current set-up by non-Victorian teams.

National reserves comp dead in the water as Power, Crows re-commit to SANFL

A national AFL reserves competition has been put on ice – for now at least – after Port Adelaide and Adelaide re-committed to the SANFL following extensive negotiations with the AFL.

Amid frustrations about the standard of their opposition in the state league, the Power and Crows made overtures to the league earlier this year about forming a national second-tier competition pitting all AFL reserves teams against one another, with West Coast also keen on the idea.

However, after the Eagles likewise re-committed to the WAFL, the Power and Crows will remain embedded in the SANFL, with the AFL set to change list rules and create greater correlation between their AFL and SANFL fixtures to prevent them being at a disadvantage, as reported in The Advertiser.

Both Port and the Crows have been reportedly frustrated by restrictions on signing top-up players to their SANFL teams, which Victorian-based clubs are able to do with their VFL sides.

The Power remaining in particular retains a more than 150-year long tradition of the club having a team in the South Australian competition.

AFL ‘really pleased’ with holding the ball crackdown: Kane

Despite criticism from fans and the media alike over the recent changes to the holding the ball rule, AFL footy boss Laura Kane has claimed the crackdown is working exactly as intended.

Holding the ball numbers have risen nearly two per game in the weeks since the change in interpretation was introduced, with almost the entirety of that increase coming from ‘no genuine attempt’ decisions.

Speaking to afl.com.au, Kane said the league is ‘really pleased’ with the rise in holding the ball calls, saying a change was badly needed to keep players safe due to the excessive risk of injury in prolonged tackles.

“The fact that we had to make an in-season interpretation change because players were tackling each other more safely is a good problem to have,” Kane said.

“We expected to see an uptick in holding the ball free kicks,” she said.

“The first week, it was an average of about two per game. The second week, it came down a little bit. The average now is just over one. We’re really pleased with those numbers.

“We’re really pleased that players have been able to adjust their tackling technique to protect opposition players and protect their peers.”

Controversially, Kane also patted the league on the back for its transparency in addressing controversial decisions, despite heavy backlash this week over her explanation of a highly contentious call to not award North Melbourne’s Bailey Scott a 50 metre penalty in the dying seconds of their loss to Collingwood, despite Magpies pair Steele Sidebottom and Beau McCreery encroaching over the mark.

Kane argued the umpire should have called ‘play on’ earlier and was right to not penalise the Pies duo, with her explanation stunning the footy world; however, despite calls for the league to stop backing itself into corners with its response to contentious calls, she says it is ‘not something we [the AFL] will stop doing.

“What’s really important to me is that we are transparent,” she said.

“As required, we are explaining things and we’re articulating to fans and articulating to people watching our game what’s happening.

“That’s not something we will stop doing. We want to make sure that people understand what’s going on on the field and what’s going on off the field. It’s been a really important focus area for me and it’s something we’ll continue to do.”

‘Worried more about how many possessions they got’: Longmuir puts blowtorch on Dockers

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has put his charges on notice ahead of a crunch clash with Gold Coast, accusing some Dockers of chasing stats.

The team put in their worst performance of the season in being thrashed by 67 points by the Western Bulldogs and conceding 23 goals in Round 14.

Speaking on Thursday, Longmuir pulled no punches in assessing his team’s performance, but insisted they were good enough to turn the corner.

“There’s no doubt in the seniors on the weekend that guys were worried more about how many possessions they got than how they competed in the contest, how they pressured the opposition and how they defended,” Longmuir said.

“That’s not what I stand for as a coach.”

Longmuir then praised his team for accepting collective responsibility for their poor performance, and vowed for significant improvement ahead of their clash with the Suns on Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s going to be much to realign,” he said.

“Only two games ago we had a 92-point win. I’m confident we can turn it around.

“No individuals got called out – the issues we covered in the team meeting were team issues. Yes, some individuals were in the individual clips, but they were only highlighted because it was a team problem.

Everyone needs to bounce back… they’re up and about, they want to redeem themselves.

“I get criticized at times for being calm and composed. I don’t react to one performance. Just like I didn’t react to the Melbourne game, I’m not reacting to this.

“Clearly some players got some things wrong on the weekend, which contributed to us getting a lot wrong.”

Longmuir is set to resist making drastic changes to his line-up, with Michael Walters unavailable due to a hamstring injury and young defender Josh Draper dropped ahead of the final team announcement on Friday afternoon.

Despite the setback, the Dockers remain two premiership points clear in eighth on the ladder, and could rise as high as fourth with a win if other results go their way.