AFL PLAYERS want the Grand Final to remain a day game, private polling by the Players' Association has revealed.
As the yearly discussion surrounding the start time for the season-decider once again heats up, AFL Players' Association boss Paul Marsh has told AFL.com.au's In the Game with Damian Barrett players have consistently shown a resistance to moving the game to a later start time in polls conducted "over the journey".
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Despite this, Marsh thinks a night or twilight Grand Final will become a reality and players will quickly embrace the change.
"We have to take our responsibility as a partner in the game really seriously, and we do," Marsh said.
"And if a night Grand Final is best for the game [and] we play night preliminary finals, we play night games all the time.
"There doesn't seem to be a really strong argument against it from what I can see."
Marsh's comments come just days after AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder backed a move to a twilight start time, and on the eve of the League's season launch when club heavyweights converge on Melbourne to discuss and debate a wide range of issues before the first game of the season, the Carlton-Richmond clash on March 21 at the MCG.
Episode guide
0:50 – 'Our job is to disrupt'
4:40 – Memories of World Series Cricket
6:10 – Life as Rod Marsh's son
7:45 – Four-and-a-half years at Port Adelaide: 'I started off flogging sponsorships'
9:00 – The Australian Cricketers' Association and learning from Tim May
11:20 – 'AFL players are exploited'
21:20 – The future of Free Agency
23:30 – Ball-tampering, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft
27:00 – 'The two worst things I've seen in sport'
30:00 – Adam Goodes had had a gutful
35:20 – Going at it over the illicit drugs policy
40:00 – When is a strike not a strike?
41:40 – The biggest issues facing players
44:40 – Do players want a twilight or night Grand Final?