{"id":347198,"date":"2023-11-16T20:44:08","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T21:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=347198"},"modified":"2023-11-17T05:02:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T05:02:49","slug":"malthouse-rips-afl-fear-behind-bizarre-new-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=347198","title":{"rendered":"Malthouse rips AFL 'fear' behind bizarre new plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> great Mick Malthouse<\/a> \ufeffhas criticised head office for a paranoid infatuation with trying to one-up other sporting codes.<\/p>\n

His comments came in response to the unveiling of a bizarre new start to \ufeffthe 2024 season<\/a>, which will kick off with an "opening round" before the official round one a week later.<\/p>\n

"Opening round" will feature only four games – two played in Sydney and two played in Queensland. Round one will feature a full nine-game fixture.<\/p>\n

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The AFL's idea was to muscle into rugby league heartland while the NRL\ufeff began its own season in Las Vegas for the first time.<\/p>\n

But those Vegas games are on Sunday, March 3 (AEDT) – the weekend before the AFL's "opening round".<\/p>\n

\"Mick<\/p>\n

On the actual weekend the AFL will launch its season with the new "opening round", the NRL does play two games in New South Wales and two in Queensland, as well as an Auckland and a Melbourne fixture.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, March 9, the AFL will be in direct competition with NRL games in both Sydney and the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

\ufeffSo the notion the AFL is moving into NRL territory while the rival code is overseas doesn't actually stack up.<\/p>\n

The AFL announcement was met with widespread criticism and Malthouse is as confused as anyone.<\/p>\n

"I'm still trying to find out why it's so good, or is intended to be good," Malthouse told Nine's Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"One of the things that really worries me about the AFL… it was about this time last year we found out the (2023) draw, around about the same time the Socceroos were hitting the field for one of their great (FIFA World Cup) games.<\/p>\n

"The AFL seems to have this fear that other codes are trying to take over from them. There is a place for everyone.<\/p>\n

"I'm still trying to find out, when you look at the draw, what is the good of it?<\/p>\n

"I just think the season is very long, players are getting tired by the end of the year, we're getting more injuries early in the year.<\/p>\n

\"Blues,<\/p>\n

"The sides who have played the first game (in opening round) will have an advantage on the second game if they play someone who hasn't played. There's a few things to look at."<\/p>\n

The Swans, Demons, Lions, Blues, Suns, Tigers, Giants, and Magpies will all feature in the radical new "opening round" from March 7-9.<\/p>\n

\ufeffCollingwood player Maxon Cox on Wednesday questioned how playing at "a showground for livestock"<\/a> (Giants Stadium in Sydney) was equal to the NRL opening its season in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The AFL fans' association also blasted the AFL<\/a> for going ahead with the "opening round" idea even though polls showed a majority of supporters didn't want it.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL great Mick Malthouse \ufeffhas criticised head office for a paranoid infatuation with trying to one-up other sporting codes. His comments came in response to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":347200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=347198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347203,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347198\/revisions\/347203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/347200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=347198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=347198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=347198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}