AFL under scrutiny as $130m construction works made primetime game 'unwatchable'
The AFL has come under fire for scheduling a primetime Thursday night game at UTAS Stadium in Launceston, while the ground is under heavy construction.
It forced both broadcasters to use a sub par main camera angle for the match, which was effectively diagonal for all wide shots given it was stationed on one of the forward flanks.
It also limited the total crowd to just 8312 spectators as Hawthorn took down Adelaide in a decent contest.
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The off-centre camera angle on Thursday night. Fox Footy
That number made it the second lowest attended game of the season so far, narrowly ahead of the previous game in Launceston between the Hawks and Suns earlier in the year.
By comparison, when Hawthorn hosted a fellow non-Victorian club at the MCG on a Thursday night in round two, they drew 48,000 fans against Sydney.
Fans took to social media to express their frustration at the viewing experience, with one saying it would have been better if the camera had been set up on some scaffolding like a local footy game.
Another pointed out that international sporting codes like the Premier League and the NFL would never allow a primetime game to look like this.
The viewing experience resembled a February pre-season game at a regional venue due to the construction - naturally there wasn't a heap either broadcaster could do about it.
Hawthorn has a lucrative deal with Tasmania to play four home games a year in Launceston, one the AFL just ripped up ahead of the Devils' introduction to the competition in 2028, but the decision to put one of those games in primetime was clearly the wrong one.
One fan took to social media to call the camera angle "disorienting" and the jumper clash "confusing". Another called it "borderline unwatchable".
Hawthorn great Isaac Smith, covering the game for Triple M, said the main camera sat on the half forward flank, which created the angle issues.
Both teams battled through frigid conditions as well, with steam visible amidst every breath. The temperature had dropped below five degrees by the end of the night.
The issues with the camera angles were compounded by a guernsey clash between the two teams' Sir Doug Nicholls Round kits, particularly given Hawthorn had a light jumper with dark shots and Adelaide the inverse.
Hawthorn will host two more games in Launceston this season, one against Melbourne and the other North Melbourne.
The Hawks and Dees played at the MCG only recently in a match that drew a tick under 70,000 fans on a Saturday afternoon.
Their next encounter will be in front of around 8000.
The AFL-owned Marvel Stadium is available on the day of the Hawks-Dees game on July 4, but the league has already locked the game in for Launceston, with the recently released fixture block.
Not many predicted Melbourne's sharp rise up the ladder this year following the sacking of Simon Goodwin, but it now means a match with enormous finals ramifications will be played in front of what could be the smallest crowd of the season, the same predicament as Thursday night's contest.
The AFL set the precedent in 2025, shifting games away from Mars Stadium in Ballarat due to construction works happening at the regional facility. The Bulldogs were set to host games there in 2025 and 2026, but they have been pushed further down the line.
UTAS Stadium is undergoing a $130m renovation ahead of the Devils' entry to the competition in 2028. Alongside Hobart's Ninja Stadium, the the venue will serve as the expansion team's home base until their bespoke roofed venue is built at Macquarie Point, likely in the early 2030s.
The Hawks are fuming with the AFL that they won't get to enjoy those renovations themselves, given they have been forced to end their relationship with the state at the end of 2027.
Instead, they will battle through another six games at the construction site before getting the boot.
