A TWILIGHT Grand Final is inevitable with AFL executives strategically "softening" the public's support for a time switch, according to Damian Barrett.
Barrett encouraged the League to be bold and make tough decisions, rather than using the media to assess the public's view on issues.
DAYLIGHT SAVED Grand Final stays at 2.30pm for another year
"The decisioning and public positioning almost by stealth is quite suffocating at times. They almost want to pre-empt the public outcry before they go down a particular path," Barrett said on the Sounding Board podcast.
Co-host Craig Hutchison said the use of the media by sports authorities, particularly by the AFL, is highly effective in changing the public's opinion.
"The twilight Grand Final is going to happen. What is happening now is there is a seasoning or a softening of the public via the media over a one-, two-, three-, four- or five-year period, so when it eventually does happen, all the steam's gone out of the issue," Hutchison said.
"Good Friday was the best example of a media softening. But by the time it happened, everyone felt like they had been in the room for every meeting to discuss it."
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Episode guide
0:10 – We made the news on the back of Brian Taylor
1:30 – Damo's feud with Luke Beveridge
3:00 – Did Gillon McLachlan mislead the media?
13:00 – The latest on Brian Taylor's makeover
27:00 – The top seven footy news-breakers
34:00 – The new-look Footy Show
38:00 – Footy Classified's return
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