- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
With just nine and a half minutes left in Melbourne and Collingwood’s seasons, an end to a disappointing 2024 for both clubs took longer than anyone would have anticipated, when play was called to a halt due to lightning.
With the Magpies holding a 41-point lead, the umpires put a stop to proceedings and invoked a mandatory 20-minute delay, with commentators and fans having already noticed a lightning bolt above the MCG some minutes before.
Win a Ziggy BBQ for Grand Final day, thanks to Barbeques Galore! Enter Here.
Play eventually was given the all-clear to resume at 10:32pm (AEST), 36 minutes after the initial break.
It’s the second time in 2024 play has been stopped by lightning, with Geelong’s Easter Monday win over Hawthorn halted at three quarter time in similar circumstances.
“What a disaster!” commentator Brian Taylor cried on Channel 7.
Under AFL rules, play must stop for a minimum of 20 minutes and can only resume when lightning moves out of a 10-kilometre radius of the ground, with play able to be delayed indefinitely under the discretion of the AFL’s executive general manager, Laura Kane.
A match can only be called off, however, if the delay exceeds 60 minutes.
Given the match was beyond doubt when play was stopped, barring a miracle Demons comeback, and with neither side in finals contention – the Magpies would need Carlton to lose by roughly 150 points if their winning margin remained at 41 points, while also requiring Fremantle to be defeated – Channel 7 commentator and former great Luke Hodge suggested captains Darcy Moore and Max Gawn should have the power to shake hands and call the match off early.
“You can see the look on the players’ faces – they just want it to be finished,” Hodge said.
“Both teams know their season’s done… can both teams go and say ‘well, we can’t make finals, can we pull the pin?'”
“I don’t think they can, legally, but you’d feel like it!” Taylor replied.
“The first-class cricket match where the two captains just walk up and go ‘we’ve had enough, that’ll do!” laughed co-commentator James Brayshaw, a former cricketer for South Australia himself.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.