Former AFL CEO’s radical Grand Final timeslot idea

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Former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has come up with a radical idea to solve the Grand Final timeslot debate.

While the AFL has locked in a daytime decider for both 2026 and 2027, many expect the competition to eventually move their showpiece event to a twilight timeslot to boost TV numbers.

Even though Demetriou is a traditionalist and prefers the afternoon timeslot, he thinks it’s inevitable that change is on the horizon.

With that in mind, and to appease all parties, Demetriou thinks the AFL should have a rolling three-year cycle of changing timeslots each year.

“I’m a traditionalist and I like the day Grand Final, but I think it’s moving to a twilight,” Demetriou told This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.

“There has been a twilight played during COVID, so it wouldn’t be the program.

“But I’m a bit more radical. If I wanted to appease everybody, I would just have a rolling three-year cycle of a day-twilight-night Grand Final every three years. Share it around.

“Once you go to a night or a twilight, there’s no going back in some sense to a daytime Grand Final.

“So, if you set it in stone and share it, you could have one of each.”

One reason why the AFL may consider moving the timeslot is due to competition from other codes, with the NRL in particular outrating the AFL in 2025 with the Grand Final between the Broncos and Storm played at prime time.

Even though the AFL wants to beat the NRL in every metric, Demetriou prefers to see other codes around the country doing well as that ensures the competition must do everything possible to stay on top.

“We focused on what we did, and we respected the other codes,” Demetriou said.

“I think part of that is the philosophy that the AFL needs competition.

“When you’re at the top of the tree and you’re doing well, you can become complacent.

“But in my time, Gil’s time and I know with Andrew, there’s no complacency with the AFL.

“If the NRL is doing well, it means the AFL has to do better. If rugby union has a resurgence, we’ve got to do better.

:I heard when the Socceroos made the World Cup in 2006 that it was going to be the end of the AFL and all of these kids were going to play soccer.

“But we went harder and had our most successful years after that, and they’ve made the World Cup each time since.”

Listen to the full chat with Demetriou and Sam Edmund below.