Grand final timeslot to be reviewed under new commission chairman Craig Drummond

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“That’s a decision for the commission,” said Dillon. “We’ll have a new chairman in Craig Drummond, and we’ll work through that, but it will be a decision that we’ll come to sooner rather than later.”

The AFL chief executive said Drummonds’s vision was about making the fans central to decisions.

“His vision for the game is not dissimilar. It’s about growth in NSW and Queensland. It’s about having the fans at the centre of everything that we do.

“I think what Craig also will bring as a chairman is someone with really recent senior club experience, having been a president of Geelong only a couple of years ago. Just a different view, and we know how important the clubs are for us to grow our game.

“The kids here are wearing their Giants shirts, not AFL shirts, and we know that. The clubs are our way to grow.”

Asked whether the AFL had any plans to take the game to India, where he visited recently, Dillon didn’t rule out international expansion.

“We want to continue to grow the game,” he said. “We’ve got so much opportunity within Australia, but it doesn’t mean you close your mind to opportunities offshore. As we looked into India, we found that we had nearly 10,000 Indian nationals playing our game.”

Meanwhile, Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield is stepping down from the AFL Players Association board after 12 years, six of them as president.