'Populist decision': Eddie McGuire slams AFL call to leave grand final in the daylight amid NRL ratings victories

Eddie McGuire believes the AFL has made a mistake by not shifting the start time of the grand final into a twilight or night slot.

The league has announced that the code's decider will remain at a 2.30pm start time for 2026 and 2027.

It came despite heavy speculation of a move to twilight this year, to coincide with Kylie Minogue's performance at the match.

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However, the call was made to not only keep this year's game at 2.30pm, but also 2027's, a popular move among fans who largely oppose a change to tradition.

AFL historian, and the son of Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett, Rhett Bartlett, summed up those thoughts on social media.

However, McGuire has firmly taken the opposite view, saying the AFL has made the wrong move.

This is largely due to the fact that the game would rate better and attract a larger audience at night, particularly in Sydney and Brisbane.

The NRL grand final, which is played at night, out-rated the AFL's in 2025. It was the first time that has occurred in a decade.

McGuire believes the AFL isn't doing enough to capture that audience back, particularly after questionable moves with this year's fixture handing the NRL some early ratings wins.

"They (the AFL) have made a debacle of the fixture this year, and the whole idea was because we need to develop the game (in New South Wales and Queensland)," the former Collingwood president told Nine's Footy Classified.

"We could possibly have Brisbane and Gold Coast playing in the grand final, and the thing about Queensland and New South Wales is that no one watches football on a Saturday afternoon.

"They're putting their main game on a Saturday afternoon, just to curry a bit of favour (with the fans) after cocking up the whole fixture at the start of the season.

"I don't care if it's on at 2pm, but I'm really concerned on how they got to that decision.

"It's a populist decision. The AFL Commission is supposed to make correct decisions, not necessarily popular ones."

Veteran commentator Gerard Whateley agrees, saying the league is giving the NRL a leg-up in the ratings battle.

"Where it ratchets up the stakes is the NRL grand final out-rating the AFL grand final, which is a rarity last year," Whateley said on Fox Footy's AFL 360.

"The AFL will take the view that there was a Brisbane team and a Melbourne team (in the NRL grand final) and the stronghold is in Sydney.

"The AFL, had it slid last year's grand final to twilight, would have beaten the NRL grand final, which reaches a certain point.

"Staying in the afternoon makes it a contest, and if it loses for the next two years to the NRL grand final, it would have been a mistake.

"It should (worry the AFL). It worries Channel Seven. At the end of the year, you want to have the number one program on television and the AFL has long held that post and doesn't at the moment.

"If you look at the eight primetime games played so far on free-to-air television, the NRL is beating the AFL five to three. This is a battle we haven't experienced before. I think people have been asleep to it."

Melbourne great Garry Lyon added that the AFL hasn't helped itself, given it has fixtured poor teams in primetime games to start the season.

That continues across the next few rounds, with Carlton featuring twice in three weeks on Thursday or Friday night, and Richmond doing so in round seven.