Another article in the media bagging us opening the season .....
Truly a lame start to AFL season * by Greg Davis
* From: The Courier-Mail
* March 21, 2011 THE AFL rarely get it wrong when it comes to maximising a spectacle, due to its bulging war chest and its sense of occasion.
It is the master of the big event. Just cast your mind back to the AFL grand final replay when US entertainer Lionel Richie had them dancing on the ceiling and made what the NRL served up at the next day's decider look second-rate.
But now look at how the AFL has stuffed up round 1 of the 2011 season. Carlton and Richmond will kick off the season at the MCG in Thursday's opening game. The long-standing rivalry between the Tigers and Blues deserves respect, but this game features an over-hyped, under-performing blue-chip club against a perennial battler that has been a stranger to September for some time.
It would have been a cracking season opener in 1974.
But as our man Lionel would say, "Hello" - it is not 1974.
Geelong play St Kilda the following night at the MCG. Why not that as the pipe-opener? Why not reigning premiers Collingwood or even the brand new Gold Coast team? The Suns don't even play in round 1, which is an indictment on the draw.
The AFL could have had the Magpies unfurling their premiership flag at the "G" on the same night they play Gazza and the Suns. Gold Coast could have taken on Brisbane in round 1 to celebrate the game's latest local derby.
The AFL gets hundreds of requests from the clubs about the draw and it is a difficult task to please everyone. But this should have been easy. Easy like Sunday morning, even. Apologies, Lionel.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/truly-a-lame-start-to-afl-season/story-e6frepex-1226025031132