The AFL says its happy with how Friday evening’s extraordinary mid-game blackout was dealt with, however Brisbane’s coach believes Melbourne got an “unfair advantage” earlier than the sport restarted.
The Lions defeated the Demons 14.9 (93) to 13.4 (82) victory, which might have been way more snug if not for the floodlights at The Gabba going out in the course of the fourth quarter.
With the sector in pitch black, the sport stopped as gamers and followers regarded on in amusement.
Watch each match of each spherical of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
A globe in one of many floodlights was flickering with a flame, suggesting it had exploded and triggered the facility outage in a loud bang.
Play ultimately resumed after a 38-minute delay, which proved to be a critical momentum shifter. The final quarter went for 69 minutes — the longest time period in V/AFL historical past.
The Demons have been lacklustre for a lot of the recreation however kicked 5 straight objectives to complete the sport, trimming the margin from 40 to 11 factors.
Lions coach Chris Fagan stated the delay was “way too long” and wasn’t comfortable the Demons bought extra time to heat up on the sector earlier than play resumed.
“The other thing that happened was, we were told to stay in the rooms, and Melbourne were warming up on the ground for five minutes. That was an unfair advantage,” Fagan stated.
“It was an unheard of situation, really.”
AFL normal supervisor of competitors administration Laura Kane stated the league was typically pleased with the dealing with of the blackout given the circumstances.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had something happen,” Kane informed SEN.
“And to be honest, after a couple of years of Covid I think we’re as flexible as we’ve ever been, and we’re able to navigate the situation quite well. So, we will debrief, but I was really pleased with how last night rolled out,” she stated.
“We’re seeing some exceptional football, the competition’s close, and it must be our priority both for the clubs and to the fans at home to make sure we complete play every game.”
Brisbane held on for a deserved win, avoiding what would have been an unmitigated catastrophe had Melbourne snatched victory after the blackout.
The Lions successfully misplaced 13 for-and-against proportion factors as soon as play resumed, which might properly have an effect on the place they end on the ladder come the top of the season.
“It felt wrong on Brisbane’s behalf,” commentator Gerard Whateley stated on SEN.
Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton added: “Brisbane had done the hard work and it’s fair enough for them to say ‘we’ve done the hard work, we don’t need to get injured … I thought it was pretty unfair on Brisbane.”
Kane stated: “I think if you’re a Melbourne supporter, you would take every one of the five goals they kicked when the play resumed because that could be the difference between top four, it could be the difference between top eight.
“We know that it goes down to the wire with percentage, so that for us was, you know, notwithstanding the venue and play being safe to proceed, which was obviously the first priority, the second is to get those 12 minutes of the game done.”
The farcical scenes despatched AFL followers into hysterics and evoked recollections of an identical circumstance when the floodlights went out within the 1996 match between St Kilda and Essendon at Waverley Park.
A Big Bash League cricket recreation in 2019 was deserted at The Gabba after the lights went off as a result of a Brisbane energy failure.
The Gabba reportedly doesn’t have a back-up energy provide for its floodlights — one thing that can certainly be addressed as a part of a $2.7 billion redevelopment for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
That improve will solely add 14,000 seats to the venue, however a brilliant battery should now be on the agenda to keep away from a blackout in the course of the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
Source: www.news.com.au
