The AFL has confirmed its first ever night grand final for the AFLW.
In a huge sign of things to come — and in proof the league is warming to the idea of ending its daytime tradition — this year’s AFLW decider will be played under lights at a venue yet to be announced.
The game will kick off 7.45pm AEDT on November 30, but exact details will be confirmed once the grand final teams are revealed (after the preliminary finals).
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The decision follows 7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary’s 10-point plan to help improve the competition and boost crowd attendances.
In that plan, Cleary suggested a night grand final, and for the season to start in June.
AFL football manager Laura Kane later told Channel 7s Talking W last week that she was across the Cleary plan and he had indeed raised some worthwhile points.
“The question is when do we start? There are a couple of important decisions that we have to make, one being when do we play the grand final?,” Kane said on Talking W.
“A focus for us over the past year or so has been building rituals into the AFLW fixture and making sure that our fans know when their team will be playing, and that goes into the fixture build. So yes, (an earlier start date) is something that we’re definitely considering.”
Cleary also called for more double-headers with AFL games, which was welcomed by Kane.
“Firstly, I liked Mitch’s 10-point plan, that was very good from Mitch,” she said.
“Yes, is the short answer, we’re looking at everything from double-headers with men’s and women’s, we’re looking at AFLW double headers and we’re also looking at two games in close proximity, eg Punt Rd and the MCG back-to-back.
“So all of the above is being considered.”
Other than the twilight and night grand finals during COVID, this will be the first time an AFL or AFLW grand final has been played outside the traditional afternoon timeslot.
There has been increasing pressure on the league over the years to shift the men and women’s grand finals to the evening.
While the AFL has traditionally played its grand finals during the day, it is commonly thought the league could significantly boost TV ratings if it were to play the deciders in the evening.
It is also thought lights and pyrotechnics in the evening would help take the pre-game entertainment to another level, as is regularly seen during the NFL’s Super Bowl.
“We obviously experimented with twilight (grand finals) during Covid – this is different … this takes into account really clear growth, metrics and inputs,” Kane said on Wednesday.
“This decision was made by (the AFL Commission), which we welcomed. The decision for the men’s will continue to be made by the commission.
“But I think here we have an opportunity to do things differently. We don’t have the same history, we have a different proposition, a different product, and we think we can do things to mix it up a little bit.”
AFLW general manager Emma Moore said the night grand final would enable more people to watch the biggest game on the AFLW calendar and “expose more people to our great game”.
“It will also create a dazzling spectacle for the grand final entertainment, which will be announced shortly,” Moore said.
The league also confirmed there would be no condensed AFLW fixture next season.
“Next season we will be expanding to 12 games over 12 weeks, with 108 games,” Moore said.
This year was the largest AFLW season so far, with 99 home and away games.
But there was fierce backlash over the rolling fixture and short breaks between games.