As Patrick Dangerfield assessed the heavy traffic stationed just outside Marvel Stadium’s boundary on Thursday, the champion was a picture of consideration. The 2016 Brownlow medallist is one week away from beginning his 16th season, but it is a year that heralds a new dawn for Dangerfield and also the competition.
Among the league’s most prominent faces given his on field excellence and off-field role as the AFL Players Association president, Dangerfield is shouldering fresh responsibility. The 32-year-old is Geelong’s new captain and stood among nine fresh AFL skippers gathered in Melbourne for the league’s 2023 season launch.
“It has been good to see a few faces and catch up with guys that, due to Covid and other reasons, we have not had that opportunity, even just some of the other captains,” he said.
The 18 captains – Eagle Liam Duggan stood in for Luke Shuey – joined the AFL Commission for breakfast along with club presidents and chief executives. Photo shoots and interviews with dozens of journalists followed at Marvel Stadium, with the day culminating in the official season launch held at the Malthouse Theatre in Southbank.
Even for a seasoned campaigner like Dangerfield, who is used to bursting from packs on the weekend and banging heads in boardrooms midweek, it was a hectic day. But there was a sense of energy and optimism among the leaders who gathered a week out from Richmond’s clash with Carlton at the MCG to start the 2023 season.
After three chaotic years, where Covid-19 caused the competition to be relocated to Queensland and then Western Australia, and where the AFLW season was bounced from the start of the year to the end, the league has had a chance to regain its breath.
From the moment Melbourne champion Daisy Pearce held aloft the 2022 AFLW premiership in late November to last week’s practice matches, footy finally enjoyed some downtime. But it is almost back and, as Dangerfield said, a sense of normality to life has returned.
“It feels like we are finally past the last remnants of what Covid was,” he said. “We understand it is still here in the community and affecting people’s lives in various ways, but in terms of a sporting sense, it does feel clubs have moved beyond that now and normal transmission has somewhat resumed.
“We saw that [continued impact] last year with the crowds, but hopefully there is even less trepidation now for people turning out and supporting clubs in whatever state they may be.”
Dangerfield is set to be as busy sharing club and competition leadership roles as he was when playing a starring role last September in the Cats’ surge to the premiership. A survey of the AFL captains identified Geelong, Richmond, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney as the leading premiership contenders in 2023.
Not that this poll guarantees anything, for the past two premiers in Geelong and Melbourne were overlooked by the league skippers prior to their dazzling seasons in 2021 and 2022.
“Everyone is even. We had a great finish to last year but every team gets better and we need to get better. If you stand still, everyone catches up,” Dangerfield, the diplomat, said.
There is much for the AFL to consider and deliver on this year and Dangerfield, the union boss, will have plenty to negotiate, including a new collective bargaining agreement.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is in the final days of his near-decade long stint leading the competition, but his replacement is yet to be identified. His hopes of delivering Tasmania an AFL licence may well rest on the federal budget in May and whether the Anthony Albanese government furthers the 18-club party with funding.
The racism inquiry at Hawthorn continues, with current Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson and Brisbane counterpart Chris Fagan still to give evidence to an AFL review.
Concussion, too, continues to be a huge issue. As Dangerfield and the captaincy cohort were speaking at Marvel Stadium, former Bulldog Liam Picken lodged papers against the AFL in the Supreme Court. A September star in the Bulldogs’ drought-breaking 2016 premiership, his career ended prematurely due to concussion. And other cases are either pending or set to be lodged.
The dawn of the new season has almost arrived. But clouds as dark as those above the Docklands as the players arrived on Thursday continue to cast a shadow over the league.
