Last night’s tremendous heart stopping GWS Richmond game was Richmond’s fourth loss of the season and their fourth loss of four on the road.

This just a week after Bruce McAvaney’s suggestion that Richmond might be the greatest team of all time. Why that might be seen as overreach would be worthy of further comment except Bruce is somewhat prone to overreach as he sits at the microphone.

These were prompts for asking the question – Is it fair that the AFL Grand Final is played at the MCG every year?

The AFL Grand Final has been played at the MCG since the VFL became the AFL and the AFL recently locked in its continuance at the MCG for a further 30 plus years recently. I found that decision surprising for a national competition particularly where there seems empirical support for Home Ground advantage playing an important part in the result.

We talk endlessly about the benefit of home ground advantage as we consider who might win in a minor round game as well as the advantage of hosting a home final in the major round, yet on Grand Final day unless both teams share the MCG, using it to host the  Grand Final potentially gives a home ground advantage to one team over another whether they have earned that right or not. Last year, for example, Richmond, worthy winners on the day had not earned the right to home ground advantage. 2016 was a similar story with the Western Bulldogs also ranked lower than their opponents, Sydney,  having the home ground advantage.

The argument goes the great teams will win anywhere and perhaps we saw this with the likes of Brisbane in the early 2000s and Hawthorn more recently, but when we look at the good teams, it seems home ground matters. That is only logical. Home crowd roaring for the local team and few away supporters, not surprising given the timing of games and distances that even the most loyal supporter needs to cover to watch their team.

We see it in the free kick stats, the home team generally gets the edge here. Again not surprising given the interpretation needed and the roaring crowd.

We see a similar picture with home teams having an overwhelming scoring advantage.  

Should there be a change to where the AFL Grand Final is played?  I suggest that the answer to this rhetorical question is YES!

Some argue the MCG is the traditional home of football. Is it really? Living in Adelaide and brought up on a diet of South Australian football, the MCG isn’t what I consider to be the home of football, Adelaide Oval is. I dare say if you asked a Western Australian, they would have said Subiaco until last season’s move to the stunning Optus Oval. For many non-Victorians who love our great game, we see the MCG as a wonderful stadium but not the home of football. It is, of course, the home of the VFL, a competition now superceded by the AFL.

Another argument for the Grand Final being played at the MCG is its capacity, more than 100,000 people while Adelaide and Perth to name two grounds capacity is 50,000 and 60,000 respectively.  I suggest that there isn’t much difference in the atmosphere when the stadium erupts in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth. Those at Adelaide Oval or those watching on TV last Thursday night would have had that confirmed when Rory Sloane kicked a long-range goal late in the third quarter. The dollar argument of extra capacity also doesn’t seem to stack up, as I am sure the difference in revenue earned by the AFL from holding the Grand Final at a venue with a smaller capacity would at best be a rounding error in the AFL’s TV rights deal.

So what could the AFL have done? I say “could have done” because their decision to sign a long-term contract to play the Grand Final at the MCG suggests that there is no room for discussion. I think that’s such a pity.

The Grand Final could be played on a best of three basis, with the higher ranked team hosting the first and third legs and the lower ranked team hosting the second leg.

Another option might be to have the Grand Final travel with only 3 in 5 played at the MCG. This recognises that the majority of teams are in Melbourne but doesn’t entrench home ground advantage. Of course, this means you could have two Melbourne teams playing in the Grand Final in Perth or two non-Melbourne teams playing the grand final in Melbourne. The latter has happened before. It also means that one team who hadn’t earned home ground advantage could have it, but we have that now but only Melbourne teams can ever have that advantage.

A moving Grand Final is the option I favour as I think the chances of the highest rank team hosting the grand final, while perhaps the best option is a bridge too far. There is plenty of precedent for different locations hosting finals on rotation. The American Super Bowl moves around the USA and the location of Europe’s major football competitions also move, witness last season’s Champions League Final held in the Ukraine between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

I am sure there are other options but simply handing the Home Ground advantage to a Melbourne team doesn’t seem fair.

Postscript – The 2019 Grand Final sees Richmond  playing GWS. The article in the attached link discusses much of what my post refers too,  however, in my opinion Richmond as the higher placed team, should host the Grand Final – link