That’s a lot of AFL reporters - Mitch, Xander, Theo and now Tom.
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Is there really enough news breaking - even the most mundane ones possible - for all of them?
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To be fair Xander and Theo are already listed as working on 7Cricket this summer, Tom already covers cricket so likely to be covering that too from next year.
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Opening Round confirmed by Mitch Cleary
On 7AFL it will at least be
• Swans v Blues Thursday Night
• Saints v Pies Sunday Night
I’m thinking that Lions v Bulldogs might be the Friday Night.
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And then one of the remaining goes on Saturday, the other Sunday arvo?
Whichever team has the Saturday one, sorry to their fans. It’s not live on Seven.
If the Lions vs Dogs game ends up being the Friday night (as I also think will be the case), Suns-Dogs and Giants-Hawks will be the twilight and evening games on Saturday respectively.
Or, one of the two could be a Sunday afternoon game; if that game is Giants vs Hawks, it would be a huge Sunday in the Olympic Park precinct in Sydney with the Matildas playing at Accor Stadium that evening.
Imagine if those two COVID-affected GFs were all-time ratings lows. Bet we’d have never heard about it again.
They just happened to have several factors influencing them and a perfect storm was created, not least of all hard lockdown and even curfew in the core market.
3m metro broadcast is rare enough, let alone high 1m in an individual market alone. This year’s was still high and one of the highest ever, in fact up on last year and still included a non-Vic team, even more so a team from a non-AFL market and for the third successive year and went back-to-back.
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The Australian F1 Grand Prix is on Sunday afternoon, so I don’t think the AFL will schedule a game then.
There will most likely be a Saturday afternoon/twilight game and a Saturday night game. Both will be exclusively live on Fox.
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They had a game at the MCG starting at 3:20pm this year at the same time as F1 So I don’t think they care about that. 2024 had a game in Ballarat at 1pm & MCG starting 4pm. 2023 also had MCG Sunday 3:20
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7cricket has Friday & Sunday WBBL, so 7 might ask AFL to fixture the AFLW semi finals for Saturday arvo & night so they can have both sports on 7 without clashing
Today In Melbourne AFLW is on 7 while the 3 WBBL is on 7mate
Edit: According to Fetch tv guide, 7mate in Melbourne has “Live:TBA” Saturday arvo (3pm) & Saturday night (7pm). So maybe that’s for AFLW
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Confirmed.
Saturday 1:05pm is Semi Final 2
Melbourne vs Adelaide at Ikon Park
Saturday 7:15pm is Semi Final 1
Hawthorn vs Carlton at Ikon Park
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9 is looking at delaying Tom Morris move to 7
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From the report:
It’s understood Channel 9 bosses are looking at whether to pull the trigger on the clause which would block Morris’ move to their main rival for up to six months.
Morris, 34, is currently on leave and contracted to Nine until December 31.
There is a precedent here with Nine digging their heels in with Caroline Wilson last year when she quit Footy Classified to join Seven’s The Agenda Setters.
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According to Tvblackbox
TV Blackbox can reveal Seven is preparing to widen its AFL footprint, with plans to expand its Agenda Setters panel brand across across Monday to Wednesday in 2026 with Morris expected to play a key role in the expansion.
Also
Discussions are also underway about enhancing Seven’s Sunday night post-game programming — a space Morris previously fronted for Nine on Footy Furnace.
So maybe 7 will keep Sunday Footy Feast and Sunday Wash up but change it to be a post game for the 3:15pm game and add a late night show as well to talk about all the Sunday games?
This article: Tom Morris exit exposes deep wounds at NINE Melbourne - TV Blackbox
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Might as well put that on the main channel (other than AEST) if possible, surely?
Sunday Wash Up should air on late Sunday night, after the last match of the day (a twilight or night game).
The AFL has released the dates and times for next year’s Gather Round (all times local).
(from 7AFL Facebook)
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We know more matches in Gather Round - and specific times even - than OR/R1.
Go figure.
Currently the Sunday Wash Up is the post match of Sunday afternoon game. Maybe they should extend it until 7:30pm so they can cover the end of the twlight game.
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The interesting aspects that seem to have been overlooked in the reporting of Morris’ defection are:
Seven plan to use him as a key part of The Agenda Setters.
The network is also exploring the launch of a Sunday night AFL program with Morris as the host.
This raises an intriguing question: could this potential new show be a Sunday Edition of The Agenda Setters? Or, if the rumours about a Monday-to-Wednesday run prove accurate, might it instead be a spin-off, extension, or sister program built to serve as a companion program to The Agenda Setters format?