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Speaker 1: Well, the AFL here in the Northern Territory is poised

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Speaker 1: to make changes to the ntfl's fly in rule and

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Speaker 1: play a points system with the competitive balance measures causing

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Speaker 1: issues for some of the clubs throughout last season. Now,

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Speaker 1: as outlined by the review, the system designed to balance

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Speaker 1: competitiveness and control spending has led to unintended challenges and speculation.

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Speaker 1: Now joining us on the show is AFL and T

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Speaker 1: head Sam Gibson. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Sam, morning Katty. Thanks Hevan.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you on the show. Now, can

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Speaker 1: you talk us through exactly what the review is all about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big review which we've been looking at

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Speaker 2: for a period of time, probably around eighteen months, where

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Speaker 2: we're taking a bit of a forensic look at all

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Speaker 2: the things that impact competitive balance across the competition. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: it's a very unique competition the NCFL in terms of

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Speaker 2: or the fact that all of our clubs are quite different,

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Speaker 2: some clubs operating venues, some not, and some like the

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Speaker 2: Tea with bombers sort of traveling in every weekend. And

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Speaker 2: then obviously the other key thing that makes it different

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Speaker 2: is the fact that so many people come in from

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Speaker 2: interstate and participate in the competition. So I guess in

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Speaker 2: lieu of those things, amongst a whole raft of other things,

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Speaker 2: you know, it makes it a bit of a challenge

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Speaker 2: to ensure that the systems in place enable clubs to

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Speaker 2: strive a success. So we're taking a holistic sort of

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Speaker 2: view of it, and things like the Flying Rule and

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Speaker 2: a few other things are obviously key instruments and they'll

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Speaker 2: be reviewed as part of it.

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Speaker 1: So what are really some of the key areas that

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Speaker 1: you guys are going to be looking into and potentially changing.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's probably two ways to look at it, Katie.

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Speaker 2: There's the on field and off field, And I think

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Speaker 2: if you look on field, we've got a points system

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Speaker 2: and we've got things like the Flying Rule, driving all

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Speaker 2: these things which have been around for a long period

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Speaker 2: of time and obviously act as a catalyst for the

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Speaker 2: league in clubs to be able to work within a

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Speaker 2: framework which aims to provide competitive balance. So we'll look

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Speaker 2: at those things, and then equally, I think off field

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Speaker 2: is just the ability for clubs to obviously be sustainable,

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Speaker 2: that's first and foremost, but also invest appropriately in their

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Speaker 2: football programs. And as part of that look, we'll look

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Speaker 2: at I guess different club circumstances, their ability to drive revenue,

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Speaker 2: the cost base that the clubs have, they are all

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Speaker 2: very different. As we know. We'll look at the AFL

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Speaker 2: and t's investment into two community football and we provide

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Speaker 2: a lot of subsidy across the competition and directly to

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Speaker 2: clubs indirectly as well, and then we'll look at how

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Speaker 2: do we simplify this and make it as easy as

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Speaker 2: we can. You know, clubs put amount of work in

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Speaker 2: not just during the season, but ultimately twelve years, I

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Speaker 2: mean twelve months around, So how do we make it

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Speaker 2: simple for volunteers as well.

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Speaker 1: Last year, obviously there was a concern that you know

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Speaker 1: with Nightcliff Football Club. I know that that was then overturned,

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Speaker 1: but it's you know, with some of these you know,

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Speaker 1: with some of the fly in rules and and that

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Speaker 1: kind of thing, it does look as though it's caused

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Speaker 1: some issues over the years. How do you think that

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Speaker 1: could be modified or what do you think could potentially

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Speaker 1: change in that space?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously, I mean there's there's cases like that where

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Speaker 2: where the difficulty for both league and clubs to be

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Speaker 2: able to administer what a very unique and complex by laws.

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Speaker 2: You know that that sort of shines a light on

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Speaker 2: the fact that you've got to continue to look at it,

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Speaker 2: review it and try and make it easier. And it's

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Speaker 2: probably too early to be able to speculate around what

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Speaker 2: it could look like. And I think you know, we're

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Speaker 2: trying to manage a balance here. We we obviously celebrate

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Speaker 2: the fact that clubs bring in high profile players and

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Speaker 2: high quality players from from interstate and that's a it's

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Speaker 2: a massive part of the competition, and we've got a

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Speaker 2: balance to manage there with with local players, local talent

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Speaker 2: to ensure that you know, it is is a local

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Speaker 2: competition and it's it's purely added to through through interstate players.

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Speaker 2: And then, as I said, we've got to bring it

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Speaker 2: back to the fact that our clubs are volunteer run

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Speaker 2: and we want to make it easier for clubs to

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Speaker 2: be able to administer, you know that the buying the

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Speaker 2: by laws and and how do we do that that

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Speaker 2: that's the question that we're seeking an answer.

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Speaker 1: To some of the clubs, Like you touched on the

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Speaker 1: financials a little while ago, do some of the clubs

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Speaker 1: sort of potentially have an unfair advantage because their capacity

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Speaker 1: to bring in money or you know, their capacity to

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Speaker 1: be more economically viable means that they're they're able to

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Speaker 1: do more.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, I think I'll just bring it back to

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Speaker 2: the fact that it's a very complex competition and if

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Speaker 2: you review it in conjunction with the analysis of a

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Speaker 2: Southern comp So so you know, in count Victoria, for example,

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Speaker 2: where pretty much all the clubs are the same, have

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Speaker 2: got home grounds, have got the ability to drive revenue

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Speaker 2: and very similar cost base behind that. It is very

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Speaker 2: different here and you know, of course there's the whole

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Speaker 2: raft of reasons why there's decisions that clubs have made,

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Speaker 2: there's other circumstances, and you know, we're not going to

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Speaker 2: take a really granular look at it. I think there

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Speaker 2: is a whole range of things and there's also a

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Speaker 2: whole range of things that contribute to club success. It's

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Speaker 2: not just about being able to fly players in. There's

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Speaker 2: this club culture and there's the development of local talent

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Speaker 2: and so on and so forth. So it is it is multifaceted.

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Speaker 2: But I think as the league, you know, we need

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Speaker 2: to ensure that every club can concede it's next success

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Speaker 2: and that's what we're trying to future proof and there's

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Speaker 2: a few strings that we can pull on.

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Speaker 1: So how long is the review going to take and

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Speaker 1: what's next.

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Speaker 2: Through the back end of it. Now, we've sort of

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Speaker 2: been talking to clubs and different stakeholders for a period

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Speaker 2: of time, gathering information, data, so on and so forth.

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Speaker 2: Over the next couple of months there will be a

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Speaker 2: lot more stakeholder conversations and you know, I don't think

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Speaker 2: what we'll see sweeping changes immediately. You know, this is

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Speaker 2: about sort of future proofing our clubs and the competitions

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Speaker 2: for the next five ten years. And you know, I

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Speaker 2: must add it off the back of sustained growth over

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Speaker 2: the last three or four years as well, So we're

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Speaker 2: not going to swoop in and make drastic changes all

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Speaker 2: at once, and you know, use about sort of stepping

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Speaker 2: through it methodically. And you know, I think we will

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Speaker 2: see some changes in advance prior to the next ENSFL

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Speaker 2: season kicking off in October, but we'll continue the conversation

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Speaker 2: as we as we move forward as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. Sam Gibson, head of AFL here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: good to speak with you this morning. Much appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Gattie, preature.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,