Should Gather Round stay in SA? Huge boost for Pies, McKay backs in Voss

0:00With a sports bed AFL same-game multi, combine multiple legs for bigger odds. About Smith, 28 plus disposals, Gorn, 40 plus hit outs, and Cameron, 2 plus goals. Lock it in with sports bed, conditions apply. Chances are you're about to lose. It's gather-round we are in Adelaide, but will the festival of footy continue in the city of churches? We take a closer look at the beautiful gather-round jumpers, plus Harry McCoy has his say on Carlton coach Michael Voss. It's Wednesday, April 8th. This is AFL Daily Nat Edwards, and Riley beverage coming to you from the Adelaide Oval Riley. It's a wet, wild and windy Adelaide Oval. We got some back. We actually are recording this from right on the center wing of the Adelaide Oval. It is absolutely bucketing down outside. It's the heavens have unloaded for the last hour or so. We're expecting more rain ahead of Thursday night's game, which might be a good thing, because I might bring the two sides closer together,

1:01so it might mean for a more entertaining match. Not good for the fans. Not great for the fans, and there are plenty of them. I was out this morning at the Royal Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, and Peter Malnowskas, the South Australian Premier and Andrew Dillon, the AFL CEO, spoke there. Peter Malnowskas was saying that there have been more hotel rooms booked for this gather-round than any of the previous three editions. Which is incredible. So they're expecting more people here than ever. The ticket sales are reflecting that as well. It's going to be a massive weekend. We just hope that the weather turns, because traditionally, we've been here almost every year now. It's been boiling hot. I reckon it was about 35 degrees this day last year. Yes, it was. It's always very warm, very sunny in Adelaide. It hasn't been this year, so hopefully the weather turns good again. And hey, good news, though, that there's been more hotels and people coming together around this year, in particular, because of the economic climate that is going on at the moment. Petrol prices might have turned some people away from making the drive from Victoria to South Australia as well. It's been tough out there for a lot of time. Unless you have the AFL app. I know. And since Aleda.

2:01You can save 10 cents from today until Saturday. Download the AFL app and you can get 10 cents off your foot fuel thanks to Shell and the AFL. So make sure you do that. But before we get on to talk about Thursday night football that is taking place here at Adelaide over between the Adelaide Cros and the Carlton Football Club, I want to talk about Gather Round itself. Yes. And the fact that we've been so lucky to have been here in Adelaide, we love coming here as an industry. The media love coming here as well. Spending some time. I went for a beautiful run this morning around the River Torrance. It was gorgeous before it started raining. But the current deal between the AFL and the South Australian government comes to an end effectively on Sunday night when Gather Round closes with Port Adelaide and St. Kilda. Yeah. Tell me, what did they talk about at the press conference this morning? Is Adelaide going to be hosting Gather Round in 2027? Well, you remember what it first came around in 2023. When Gather Round first started, it was a one-year deal that South Australia was going to host it.

3:02That weekend, they then signed a three-year extension. That takes us to this weekend. So 2026, that agreement is now up. They've been in locked in negotiations for last number of weeks, months, around extending it. Peter Melon asked us, I think he joked this morning that he wanted it for the next 20 years. That's what he wanted it for the 20-year deal. I think he was joking, but he did say he wanted it for the long term, as opposed to just a short-term agreement. The complexity in the negotiations that are ongoing at the moment between the South Australian government and the AFL, one of the main sticking points has been the fact that Tazzy arrives in 2028. And when Gather Round was introduced, it was an additional 23rd game on the fixture. You'll remember there were 22 games. This was an additional one, so the fans wouldn't miss out on the home game, wherever state their club is based or anything like that. It was an additional game that was just a bonus for 40 fans. When Tazzy comes around, just the math of a 19th team, and they're being abide every week, means we're going to have to either have 22 games or 24 games. We can't have 23 games. So that's what the complexity is. How do they satisfy broadcasters?

4:03How do they ensure fans aren't losing a home game of their team if they're not based in South Australia? All of that sort of stuff. That's where the complexity of the negotiation is. I think that South Australia deserves to host it long-term. I think they put it on as well as anyone. What they do over the course of the four or five days where food is being played, and the course of a week, where they start welcoming people into the state. It's been fantastic. It's a great town. Everything's accessible. Well, that's the thing, isn't it? You need to have the grounds that are close enough, right? I mean, the boss is obviously a little bit further away from the Adelaide City. But it's got to be central enough that everyone can get to these games, whereas WA is so much more spread out across Perth than the access to these local community grounds. They can still hold a fair ground. I think it just works perfectly here. I think it does. And we've been to games at Nordo before in the past as well, where it's just fantastic. You had the parade there. There's the food and wine festival on Sunday. I think it's fantastic. I think the way South Australia is invested in this over the three years would suggest they deserve to keep it.

5:04I think they inevitably will. It's just when that agreement gets signed and for how long and how aggressive other state governments are and trying to lure it off them in the future. It's going to be the big question going forward. Let's take a listen to AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and of course the South Australian Premier. We've got a 19th team coming into the competition in 2028, which means we'll have a new competition structure. We'll have to move back to 22 matches or up to 24 the way the match works with an uneven number of teams. You need an even number of matches. So there is some complexity in it. Andrew's got a really significant responsibility and as do I and is about making sure that we approach the negotiations in good faith. I think there's plenty of that and there is complexity. We've got our ambitions and the AFL have got theirs and we want to make sure we get those lined up as best as possible. And if we're able to do that then hopefully we can land a deal sooner rather than later. So we'll wait and see and watch this space and what happens with Gather Round and whether or not a little one-year deal might be in place at the end of this weekend.

6:07But Riley, something caught my eye. You've got a little article out on afl.com. dotty on the afl live app. You're Riley ranks series and you rank the 10 best jumpers your club hasn't worn for 20 years and that's off the back of obviously. Gather round we see some clubs having special gather round jumpers. We'll get to the suns and their ping jumper in just a moment. But if you haven't seen this article it is a very very good read. How did you come to write this article and remember all of these guarantees? Yeah, I've got to thank a little website called footyjumpers.com which is one of the best websites going around. It's it's got documented every single jumper that an afl vfl club has ever worn. It's history. It's got state league jumpers. It's got afl baby jumpers. It's fantastic. But I just thought so many clubs do throwback Guernsey's West Coast. They've got that brilliant one that they're wearing this weekend. That yellow RNG girl is so good. Just reminds me of when I'm 10 years old and playing afl live too on PlayStation 2 and all that sort of stuff. So I just thought what are the jumpers that haven't been worn? Haven't been brought back. But I learned in three or two clubs that have done a fantastic job

7:08in recognizing their history. Their recent history across the last few years. I just thought what are the jumpers that haven't been worn in 20 years that could potentially be brought back? So the rules were pretty simple. As long as the york club hasn't worn a variation of this jumper in the last 20 years, then it gets on the list. Wow. I landed in the end with a wizard cup jumper that Richmond wore. I think from about 2003 was the last year of the war. That was my number one at the end of the day. It had the claw marks on it. Richo used to wear it back in the day. It's just one of those iconic memories I have from when I was 11 or 12 years old of Richmond running around in that. And I'll just think, gather round 2027, the Tigers aren't doing a gather round jumper this year. Only I think nine of the 18 clubs are doing one. The majority of them are heritage or throwback jumpers. I just think it'd be perfect for Richmond to wear in 2027. Go and check out Riley Ranks and that list. If we had to rank the gather round jump, there's Gold Coast Sons and their pink kids. It would be number one. Coming in at number two would be Port Adelaide's gather round Guernsey from the T-1. The T-1 is extraordinary. But talk to me about the Gold Coast Sons and the pink one

8:10because they've sold over 10,000 of these Guernsey's because they look that good. And the competition was crying out for a pink jumper. And now we have one. It's funny, actually, because I didn't expect to be running two stories on Jumpers this week. I wrote the Gold Coast one about eight weeks ago. And we've been speaking with the sub-editors at AFOD.com that he decided to gather round a big week to put it out there. But it's just taken Gold Coast to a level of commercial and brand awareness that I don't think they were ever asked. And that's what I wanted to get through this story. So Gold Coast went through the rebrand at the end of 2024. They changed their jumper design. They changed their logo design. And in amongst that, they engaged the AFO around how best to do that. And the AFO's art director, Marty Cook, who's a great man we work with him a lot. He had the idea of he loved into Miami in the US where Lionel Messi plays at the moment. And they wear pink. And he said, there'd never been an AFO club wear pink. And he goes, why hasn't that been the case? So he pitched it to Gold Coast as a new club

9:10that's not mired in the history of a color or a pattern or anything like that. And said, pink suits the Gold Coast. It's such a Gold Coast color. It's the color of sunrise in the morning on the Gold Coast. It beaches. It's the color of the pastels of the houses along the Gold Coast as well. He just said, why don't you guys wear pink and CEO Mark Evans and the president of the Sun's Bob East both loved the idea. They wore it for the first time, gather around last year. And it's just gone to a new level. So in this story, they sold 9,000 units of pink for the 24, 25 financial year alone. That accounted for 36% of their total revenue. Last year, the pink jumpers sold 132% more than their three jumpers combined from 2024. And this year, they've put out new range. They've put out the soccer jersey. They've put out hoodies and everything like that. The lifestyle range, I think, was three times up from where it was this time. Last year, they had that a day last year where they played Richmond. And they marketed it as the pink game. They wore it for a home play.

10:11I found out that they budgeted around $3 to $4 of merchandise sales per ticket holder for those home games at Gold Coast. They sold double that for that pink game last year. So it's just become such a huge commercial thing. I've got mate, I'm mate this morning. Text me, my mate Jesse. I hope he doesn't mind me shouting out. Text me, like, if you're over there, can you get me one of those pink soccer jerseys? So I really want one. He's a Richmond fan. Yeah, I love it. I think it's gotten bigger than just who you support. Clubs love the range. They want the lifestyle range. So it's gone to another level. And I just wanted to sort of reflect that in the piece because I thought it was an interesting topic. You don't see too many clubs branch out to a completely new color scheme just for a one-off game. And Gold Coast managed to do that really well. And the hawks have kind of copied them a little bit because they've brought out a pink range of training gear. And I've got a pink hawkhorn hoodie, which I'm very much like. But I wouldn't mind one of those Gold Coast Suns pink soccer jerseys either because they look absolutely elite great. You can only buy it this weekend. That's what the jerseys are all. You can only buy it now over this weekend. So go to Norwood over and set that up, OK? That's where I'll be.

11:11Plenty more still to come on AFL daily, including a little bit more on the blues. I know we've spoken about them ad nauseam, but we've got more to come. Plus a little something when it comes to the trade space. Make it a red set of weekend this May. See the Melbourne Demons take the field in our Springs on Sunday, 31 May, then style a little longer and experience the magic of Central Australia. For the in the heart of Australia, it doesn't get much better than that. The bus has been fantastic. It can't speak more highly of how he's going to be out at much live, obviously, on field. A lot of it's player-based stuff, but we tend to go to the coach, which is I guess that's the industry. But full support for Vossy. Absolutely love him. Can't wait for him to coach for a long time. So that was Carlton, spearhead Harry McCuy, speaking this morning about his under siege coach, Michael Voss. The pressure certainly on Voss, but I like the fact Riley that the players are taking a lot of accountability

12:11as they should for their fade-outs and their performances to date so far in 2026. Because I look at the list changes that have been made at Carlton and in everything that's happened over the last couple years. And let's not forget that Blake Aikers goal at the MCG, under Michael Voss taking them to a final series. A lot has changed and I'm not sure he's been set up for success for the last couple of years, but it's not all his fault. I think the... So they had the 2023 prelim that you just mentioned. 2024 halfway through the season, they're 11 and 4. They've just come off a reckon they beat Jolong on a Friday night by about 10-11 goals. At that point in time, I remember thinking they're probably the best team in the competition right now and they should be... We all thought that. Since that moment, they played greater away since sitting in the next week. They were 37 points up at quarter time, I think, and they lost. Since that moment, they've had countless times where they've built early leads,

13:11been figured out or run out of steam and lost. And it's been a pattern that's followed them for... That's nearly two years now. That's the trend. So that... My worry is with the Blues, and particularly when it relates to Michael Voss and his future beyond this season, he's able to contract the end of 20-26. They've had so much change in their playing group, but that pattern is still side the same. Yes, and at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I think the coach is ultimately responsible for patterns of play even when the personnel changes. So you can have injuries, you can make trades, you can lose players to retirement, you can do whatever, but the coach sets the brand that the team then goes out and plays. And I think for the best part of two years now, Carlton's brand hasn't been good enough. I think that's what we'll worry. The key decision-makers of the goals... It's clearly mental though as well. I think that, but at the end of the day, is it not up to the coach to instill a mentality that gets players over the line? I mean, we've seen countless times when teams who might not be the most talented go on and win flags, and that's because they've got the brand, they've got the mentality to go on and do that. I think it's going to be hard from here.

14:12Just looking at Carlton's next eight or nine fixtures as well for him to arrest this wave of momentum that seems to be going against him, but we just heard what Harry McCuy said. And I think there does need to be a recognition from people outside of Carlton. And I include the Carlton supporter base in this that that level of support from the playing group and the staff at the Blues for Michael Vos is strong for a reason. Yeah. And that's because he's such a likable person. And I think everyone in the footy industry has recognised that. And I think that's where you do see some people throw their support behind him, because he is a likable person. I think everyone wants Michael Vos to succeed in this role. I just think now, given the way the side has been playing for the best part of two, is as we just mentioned, I think it is going to be hard for him to arrest the momentum that's going against him. Well, certainly nowhere to hide when it comes to Thursday night football. So we're very much looking forward to that game. Friday night football will be calling with hosting free man to all the dockers. We're in Adelaide last week. They've gone home and now they're coming back again, which seems crazy.

15:13We're in St. Kilda State. St. Kilda State, it's interesting, but there are a lot of young dads in the free man's side, so they wanted to get back and then have some Easter time with their family, which I think is fair enough. Just on that game on from a colling with perspective, a just confirmation today that Nick Deikos and Scott Pendelbury will both play after getting through training today. So that is good news for the players. They're also going to have a cheeky debut on in Angus and Angri Anderson, which I'm not sure he actually likes. That nickname, but a really great story. You can hear more about that story on the round ahead, Josh Gablich takes us through that to make sure you watch the round ahead on afl.com. Do you want the afl live app? Get a ball. You've done that in Adelaide as well. It was fun. A little bit of something around George Wardwall. I just think he is the most intriguing contract in the afl right now. So he's coming out of contract at the end of the year. I've got no doubt that he will ultimately resign at North Melbourne, but I find it more fascinating in sense at how long does North Melbourne want to sign him for?

16:14How long does he want to sign for? We know about his injury history. And the point I made on Getable is that if George Wardwall was guaranteed to play every single week, there's no doubt he would be every bit a $1 million player. But we know his history and we know he's not guaranteed to play every week. So what's he worth from a financial perspective? Is there some doubt from North Melbourne's end around his body? Is there some doubt from George's end around how North Melbourne has handled his body in the past? Does that lead into the negotiations? They haven't actually started yet. He's pretty comfortable just waiting until he gets a consistent run of 40 hundred and his belt before they start. I think that makes sense. But yeah, I just think it's going to be a fascinating one to see how that plays out over the next couple of months because we saw it good Friday last week. Well, he's will to win. I think he's stronger than any other competitions. He's such a fantastic player. He plays with that edge, that hard edge, which has got himself into some troubles at times as well. But he's one of my favorites in the competition. I'm just really intrigued to see how that contract plays out just on Getable as well. Yes. And I know you want to give yourself a plug for this as well because you're doing a live event with Josh Gavolich

17:16on Friday at the Mac is 45. Yes, we are. We're on three o'clock, me and Gabbos. So come and say good night. Three o'clock local time, we should say. Three o'clock local Adelaide time. And we're the warm up act for the big main act, which is of course, Getable Live. Yes, myself and Keltumi will be there from four pm. So if you're going to Colin Goodfrey out the Adelaide oval, there's no better way to get yourself prepped than watching AFL daily with Josh and Nat intergettable with myself and Keltumi. At the Mac is 40 festival. There's plenty of stuff to do down there. We're going to be taking some questions on trade and draft. I don't know if you guys have been doing similar AFL daily, but we're going to have a lot of fun down there. So make sure you get down if you're on Adelaide on Friday afternoon. And hopefully the weather holds out. But thank you so much for listening to AFL daily. Tomorrow's edition will be, of course, the non-Victorian episode with our good friends, Fish and Schmuck as well as Brass on Deraisten. So make sure you tune into that. We'll see you soon.