THE AFL controversially has abandoned its tradition of a grand final motorcade to farewell its retiring stars.
The Age believes the decision was taken in conjunction with the game's new pre-game entertainment consultants, who will meet the league next week to canvass a new format for honouring retiring stars. This year, the retirees include James Hird, Nathan Buckley, Glenn Archer, Anthony Koutoufides and Michael Voss, whose retirement came after last year's grand final.
This year's parade of retiring champions potentially also could include Chris Grant and Robert Harvey. But the AFL reportedly has decided that the motorcade — an emotional highlight of grand finals over the years — has become outdated, difficult to televise and potentially risky in the event of rain.
While it has been revealed that Australia's internationally known rock band Jet will perform before the game, no other details have been released regarding the pre-game entertainment, which will have a big facelift under Peter Jones, who has been a consultant to the league over the past three years and was instrumental in redesigning its annual hall-of-fame presentation.
It is believed that this year's entertainment will be radically different from past productions.
Although the retiring champions, along with the 2007 hall-of-fame inductees, will not take part in a motorcade, there are plans for the group to be given some sort of farewell by the MCG crowd and they are expected to be escorted onto the ground before the game.
Next week's meeting is also expected to raise the possibility of a grand final day farewell to premiership coaches Kevin Sheedy and Denis Pagan should one or both of them not continue their coaching careers next season.
Koutoufides' retirement yesterday has only made this year's long series of goodbyes all the more emotional, given the long list of potential AFL legends who have or are about to announce their departures.
Already the stage has been set for a massive farewell to Hird and Sheedy at the MCG in round 21, when Essendon plays Richmond in what will prove the pair's last appearance in Melbourne should the Bombers fail to reach the 2007 finals.
