Former Essendon captain Tim Watson says the AFL scheduling the West Coast Preliminary Final in an afternoon time slot is an “odd call”.
The AFL announced yesterday the Preliminary Final between the Eagles and either Hawthorn or Melbourne will take place at 1:20pm Perth time, something Watson doesn’t understand.
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“The whole idea of scheduling it at 1:20 Perth time is to get the players back on a flight late in the afternoon so they can get back to Melbourne,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“A good intention from that point, I understand that, but immediately my mind goes to this straight away…the potential for a warm late September day over there in Perth.
“In 2014 at 1:00pm in Perth on a Saturday, the temperature was 34.9 degrees, in September. There is the potential for it.
“I’ve looked up the long range weather forecast, now you can’t accurately predict roughly two weeks ahead, but there are already believing that it’s going to be mid-20s, with the potential for it to be hotter than that.
“My solution would be to retract on the whole thing and just change the starting times. Late afternoon/twilight prelim would be better.
“Why couldn’t you have it on the Friday night? It’s a very odd call.
“Even if it’s mid-20s, that’s going to be a tougher assignment for the travelling team.
“I don’t think that has really been thought through carefully and properly.”
Richmond will battle either Collingwood or Greater Western Sydney on Friday week at the MCG in the other Preliminary Final.