Four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Alastair Clarkson,enjoying a year off,is the early front-runner for the Giants’ role,having declared on Thursday night his desire to coach burned as bright as ever.
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McLachlan said the AFL would not provide greater financial assistance for the Giants to lure Clarkson. It has been suggested that Clarkson would receive ambassadorial money should the Gold Coast Suns’ job become available and he opt to join the underachieving franchise.
“The same soft cap applies to all clubs - that’s not in consideration[that] there would be any additional monies in the cap for that (for the Giants),” McLachlan said.
“I think what the club needs,what the league needs,they want the right coach to take them forward. Whether that be a brand coach like,say,Leigh Matthews or Al Clarkson,the club will work through what the playing group needs in the right type of coach.”
Having met with media executives,including from Amazon and Paramount Plus,McLachlan said the next rights contract beyond 2024 would have an “increasing” streaming component. However,he insisted the current free-to-air component,which has an average of three-and-a-half matches per round on the Seven network,will remain,regardless of whom the free-to-air network is.
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“We will still,at our core,have,give or take,that amount of content on free-to-air football because it is important that everyone can access our game,and the best of our game,for free. But also,there are nine games a weekend,there are not enough slots for free to air,we will also have a subscription/streaming partner,” he said.
McLachlan said the AFL Commission will meet next week to discuss the timing of the grand final,confirming it will either be an afternoon or twilight clash at the MCG.
“Victorians haven’t had the experience of being to a twilight one. I know a lot of people don’t want to think about that,and I respect that,” he said.
“You look at what happened when we were able to present at twilight[in Perth last year] - I think a lot of people last year thought it was an incredible presentation of our pinnacle game but,obviously,there are a lot of traditions about how people traditionally have gone to grand finals in Victoria,and I totally respect that as well.”
McLachlan acknowledged the AFL had mishandled how it had dealtwith a report into female and non-binary umpires that uncovered a culture of sexual harassment,misogyny and spectator abuse. He said he had not read the report before it was published in the media.
“It should have been made public and we have acknowledged that. We commissioned the report,we actioned the report,and somehow in between it wasn’t publicly communicated. It was widely distributed but not publicly communicated. We acknowledge it should have been,” he said.
Amid growing frustration among AFLW clubs over the fixture delay,McLachlan said the new season will begin on the last weekend of August,and said he had met with AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh on Monday to help broker a new collective bargaining agreement.