Former Fremantle Dockers coach Chris Connolly has reignited calls for the AFL Grand Final to be hosted around the country claiming this year's showpiece should have been held in Perth.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Connolly, who led Fremantle to its inaugural finals series back in 2003 said the clubs' minor premiership scalp in 2015 should have resulted in them given the chance to aim for the big dance on home turf.
The suggestions come off the back of the recent abandonment of a replay in the event of a Grand Final draw - and Connolly said the AFL needs to drive more wholesale changes to become truly national.
"The AFL's belated decision to get rid of the replay in favour of extra time – some 30 years after clubs were added in Western Australia and Queensland – should be embracedm," he told AFL.com.au.
"But there are other changes the AFL should make to finally kill off lingering perceptions that the competition is still only an expanded Victorian-based league.
"We're close to having world-class stadiums capable of hosting major events in all states. The location of the Grand Final would be decided 12 months in advance, based on the home state of the team finishing on top of the ladder after the home and away rounds.
"Under that system, this year's Grand Final would have been scheduled for Perth, in recognition of Fremantle topping the table last year."
As it stands an agreement is in place for the MCG to host the AFL showpiece until at least 2037, but Connolly is not the only one calling for the deal to be ripped up.
Former West Coast Eagles champion Karl Langdon agreed that sharing the Grand Final love was well overdue.
"I completely agree, but we have been calling for this for years," he told WAtoday.
"A deal is in place at the moment with the MCG and you can't argue that it can attract the biggest live audience, in terms of its capacity.
"But Adelaide has a new ground, the SCG has been revamped and here in WA we are due a new stadium that will be able to host the same if not more than the other states. So why shouldn't it be played elsewhere?
"I think it could work much like how the A-League works. This year Adelaide will get a Grand Final because Adelaide United topped the ladder.
"So last year, for example it should have been in Perth, because they had the highest placed team (over the course of the home and away season, in the Eagles) playing in the Grand Final."
The call for a shift in Grand Final location was among a number of wholesale changes called for by Connolly.
Connolly, who played 84 games for Melbourne, added there needed to be a team out of Tasmania and that the hosting of the Brownlow Medal count be rotated.
Under his vision, the count would be held in Perth this year, with Fremantle having provided last year's winner in Nat Fyfe.
