Gerard Whateley

and how that plays out across the political spectrum and what it looks like from a football context, which was fascinating.

Made the observation that Gen X is the most hooked on footy.

So I suspect our core audience right now, I'm certainly smack bang in the middle of that.

That rings absolutely true against the digital nomads who are coming through, who can consume their sport regardless of geography in precisely the same way.

And then as well as where the risks are, there was also the reassuring, he reckoned sport had the capacity to connect people, to bring them across divides when politics was fragmenting the citizenry.

And this is absolutely true in our sporting lives.

So how big is the period of change we're about to experience?

A lot of it is necessitated by the change in the structure of the competition with the 19th team and then overlaid with what's happening in the country and the world right now.

Do you feel like we are entering a phase that will shift the tectonic plates?

And for the AFL and the way that they manage this with the fan base.

So there's resistance to change naturally in all forms of life.

And I think all the big decisions of the past have been unpopular with the fan base at the start, but the vast majority have served the game well.

How should they manage that relationship, do you think?

So the big picture very much in vogue right now.

Just a couple of the nitty gritties as we finish our chat this week, Phil.

Gary Lyon asked me the exact right question last night.

What would have happened?

What difference would it have made if Zach Butters had said yesterday, yep, this is going to be my last showdown?

And trying to picture what that would have looked like this morning.

Yeah, so we think it would have made his life uncomfortable for the last couple of months when he's handled the season about as well as he can.