Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew has thrown his support behind the growing movement to reinstate the naming of all teams on a Thursday night.
The AFL appears on the cusp of bringing back the much-loved tradition after the League reverted to naming teams a night before games in 2020 as a result of the COVID-related scheduling changes.
This year, teams for matches on Friday have been named on Thursday, while teams for games played on the weekend have been named on Friday or Saturday.
Dew said he usually finalises Gold Coast’s side for a Saturday match as early as Wednesday, meaning it wouldn’t be an issue to make the team public on a Thursday night.
“It’s not personally (an issue to name the teams on Thursday),” he said on Sportsday.
“I don’t mind the Thursday night thing, everyone knows and the players know. For a Saturday game we do our main session on a Wednesday so most of the time we’re finalised by the Thursday and you do know (the team for the weekend).
“It wouldn’t faze us at all, we’re easy going so let’s name the teams and go.”
Gold Coast has won their last two games, the most recent being a 24-point victory over Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
Dew revealed it was “highly unlikely” that he’d opt to make any changes to a winning side, saying he was intent on rewarding the players who have strung together successive impressive performances.
“It’s highly unlikely we’ll change the team (for the game against St Kilda on Saturday),” he said.
“We want to try and reward (the players currently in the side) as much as possible, so we really think that based on the second half against the Bulldogs and in the last two weeks, the players are starting to gel and have a bit of hunger for the style of footy we want to play.
“We feel like we’re in a good spot, we’ll get some guys back in the next month that will give us a bit of depth and there’s guys in the VFL playing good footy also which keeps the pressure on those up top.”