I'm with you, Drubbing, especially the AFL being the Victorian Government's Department of Football. Quote yesterday from Gillon McLachlan when asked what would happen if the MCG was not available for the GF: it will be played at Docklands because "we have a commitment to play it in this state".
Huh? Where did that come from? When was that commitment made? Between who? What benefits changed hands? How come we've never heard that the AFL deal is not so much that the game be played at the G for the next millennium as that it will be played in Victoria? WTF???
And, yes, the season is bodgied, compromised and skewed. The simple answe is to make it a tournament, or a carnival, or anything but a premiership. Then I wouldn't really care where it was played, and I think we'd enjoy it a whole lot more