Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann has confirmed the AFL is on the cusp of bringing back the naming of all teams on a Thursday night.
Calls have been growing louder in recent weeks to bring back the much-loved tradition, with alteams only named the day before a game so far this season.
The AFL originally made the change as a result of the COVID-hit 2020 season which saw games played in short succession, but with the competition back to a more normal fixture in 2021, fans have called for the tradition to be reinstated.
Swann revealed that there was an appetite to bring back the naming of all teams on Thursday night after it was raised in a CEO’s meeting on Tuesday.
“We did have a discussion today and there’s a bit of a demand to have the teams come out on a Thursday night,” he revealed on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“I think the AFL is looking to bring that back in and the clubs were fine with that. I’m not sure how quickly they’re going to do it, but they’re certainly heading down that path.
“It was certainly discussed today and everybody was in agreement so I assume someone will be working on how that happens and we’ll get a memo asking for the teams on Thursday and that’s what we will do.
“It’s a strange one, we know why (teams were named the day before a game last year) because of four or five days breaks but now we’ve gone back to a more traditional draw that it’s going to come back in.”
The news is likely to be welcomed by a vast majority of footy fans who have expressed their desire to see teams named on a Thursday night.