AFL scraps grand final replay

The AFL has scrapped the grand final replay.

The league’s commission confirmed on Tuesday that there would no longer be a rematch, in the event of a drawn grand final.

There will instead be two five-minute halves for extra time and if the score is still tied, the next score will win.

Sports Today host Gerard Healy has been advocating for the change for many years.

‘I think it’s fantastic the national comp has now got its just way of deciding a premiership,’ Healy said of the decision.

Reasons against the change include the financial value of an extra match for the AFL and the unique aspect of a replay.

However the difficulty placed on an interstate side that would have to fly home, recover, fly back to Melbourne and front up the next week is ultimately what made the decision, according to AFL Operations Manager Mark Evans.

‘To me all of that washes around and it does become about what is right at a national competition,’ he told Sports Today.

‘Difficulty for sides that travel or sides that get really banged up by injury and their lack of ability to recover.’

Drama and excitement are another ingredients to the AFL Commission’s decision, Evans said.

‘Imagine getting to that final stanza… And just having this most incredible finish.

‘It would be regarded as the game of all ages.’

St Kilda and Collingwood played the last drawn grand final in 2010.