No camping outside my house: How McLachlan and Malinauskas sealed Gather Round deal

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It might have been the 10-year wedding anniversary of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas on the opening day of Gather Round last Thursday, but it was his love for AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan that was most evident over the weekend.

The pair appeared on every patch of grass connected to football, with Malinauskas committing to attending seven of the nine games played, all the while negotiating a new deal to secure Gather Round for the next few years.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and SA Premier Peter Malinauskas have agreed to extend Gather Round’s presence in Adelaide through to 2026.Credit: Getty

Sometimes it appeared the pair forgot where they were, or it least it appeared that way at an Adelaide business lunch in front of MC Sarah Jones and 500 people last Friday.

Having heard Malinauskas give every reason imaginable as to why South Australia was Gather Round’s home, the on-stage discussion between the pair, in hindsight, sounded like negotiations occurring in real time.

McLachlan: You can see he is quite convincing.

Malinauskas: We can invest in infrastructure at the Barossa, for instance, if we know we have got [Gather Round] on a regular basis or at least a semi-regular basis.

McLachlan: If you do a deal for next year like you want, would you invest in the Barossa, build a proper oval, and you could play it there?

Malinauskas: What, like Etihad Stadium?

McLachlan: It doesn’t have to be roofed … So a game at Barossa or McLaren Vale … will you develop an oval for next year?

Malinauskas: If we know that we’re going to get it on a regular basis.

McLachlan: Will you put money into community facilities, and we will match you dollar for dollar if you do that?

Malinauskas: Here’s the politician’s answer …

McLachlan: Would you match us dollar for dollar up to a number to build community facilities and football ovals across the state, do them up, female changerooms, would you do that?

Malinauskas: If we know we are going to get Gather Round, you better believe it.

McLachlan: OK, build community facilities for girls, women, others, regional football clubs, lights, build an oval – I heard in the Barossa and McLaren Vale. We will come back with a number. The whole commission is here.

Malinauskas: And if we get a four-year run at it, you get all that and more.

McLachlan: There is one last deal: You’re not allowed to camp outside my house or my office. There is a 24-month exclusion period.

Two days later, a deal to hold Gather Round in South Australia until 2026, which includes a commitment to play a game in the Barossa Valley, was announced by the pair on the wing at Adelaide Oval, just before Collingwood played St Kilda and just before McLachlan heads into the sunset as an ex-AFL CEO.

Banter Round

McLachlan is entitled to engage in a bit of banter when among familiar faces as he winds down his exhausting tenure as AFL chief.

Always quick to crack a gag in any circumstances, he did not hesitate in telling one CEO – in jest, we might add – that he was “a puppet” of his president when he attempted to make a point at the CEO’s meeting on Friday.

According to a source in the room, who preferred to speak anonymously, the banter was all in good fun, and the CEO on the receiving end took no offence in the ribbing from the league CEO who, in the words of Malinauskas, “is on the back nine”.

On the coach’s whiteboard

Before you go, here are …

Five suggestions by Snap Shot that might help talented Port Adelaide midfielder Jason Horne-Francis win back favour among those football supporters booing him:

Jason Horne-Francis was booed during the match.Credit: Getty

They said

“I didn’t know what happened until someone told me on the way in, extraordinary, extraordinary,” said Sydney coach John Longmire when asked about the ball touching a flapping piece of goal padding on Friday night to deny Jake Lloyd and the Swans a goal.

But they forgot to say

“I knew exactly what happened and was filthy until someone told me you would ask about it on the way in, extraordinary.”

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