AFL Magic Round feud erupts after premier's swipe at rival state

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has lit the fuse with New South Wales over his state's bid to host the AFL's inaugural Magic Round in 2023.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan last month revealed that "multiple states" were vying to host an entire round of games in 2023.

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Based on the NRL's Magic Round, the AFL is exploring whether to stage all nine matches on the same weekend in one city next April.

If the proposal is ticked off then the season would increase from 23 rounds to 24, with one bye for each team.

Every club would still host 11 home matches and the extra round would replace an official pre-season game.

Sydney is looming as the strongest candidate to host the Magic Round, with the SCG and Giants Stadium likely to host games, while the Olympic site at Accor Stadium could be another option.

AFL-mad South Australia is another strong contender and the state's premier Peter Malinauskas has gone on the warpath to try and secure the lucrative event.

In a brutal swipe at NSW, the SA Premier says games will be played in front of largely empty stadiums should Sydney win hosting rights over his state.

“I’ve been pretty blunt about this with Gil (McLachlan) and others (that) ‘if you guys host this in New South Wales, these guys can’t get half a stadium full for a run-of-the-mill NRL match, let alone an AFL match’,” Malinauskas told Adelaide's FIVEaa radio.

“If this goes to Sydney, people are going to turn on their television sets and they’re going to see 600 people at the western Sydney ground watching Freo versus Brisbane, whereas here in Adelaide we’ll put on one hell of a show and we know people will show up to watch.

“We think South Australia presents the opportunity to de-risk a new method of delivering the game to make sure it’s a great success, which works well for the AFL but most importantly works well for the state more broadly.

“Part of my frustration is ... and I don’t want to undermine the AFL’s effort in trying to expand the game in non-AFL states, but we can’t forget our base either.

“That’s a worthwhile exercise, but not at the expense of South Australian footy fans.”

There is an element of truth to the SA premier's claims, with average attendance figures for AFL in 2022 considerably higher than the NRL for the most part.

In fact, the NRL's home and away average attendance figure of 16,250 was skewed by figures from the Brisbane Broncos, who averaged nearly 30,000 fans for their home games.

The average attendance for games in the AFL was 30,871 people, with all but three sides - North Melbourne, Gold Coast and GWS - faring better than the non-Brisbane NRL clubs.

South Australia's pitch would see most games played at Adelaide Oval, with other matches slated for alternate locations such as the Barossa Valley.

SA bid gets support from AFL icons

Perhaps crucial to the bid from South Australia is strong support from the likes of ollingwood president Eddie Mcguire and Port Adelaide chairman, David Koch.

“It is important to ensure the first Magic Round is successful and we believe all South Australian football fans would show their support,” Koch said.

“South Australia is a traditional football heartland market with broad support and appeal, and has a world class stadium at Adelaide Oval.

“Adelaide is easily accessible for Victorian and interstate fans to come and enjoy a weekend away and support their team.

“It just makes sense to launch the AFL Magic Round concept in South Australia to ensure its success and establish its future.”

The NRL has staged its Magic Round at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium since 2019, although the event did not go ahead in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

McLachlan believes it would make sense to run the AFL's own version of Magic Round in the school holidays, after the first few rounds of the season.

"Maybe round five-ish, the second half of April when it's school holidays nationally," he said last month.

with AAP

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