reportedly keen to stay at the Bombers if his close friend James Hird got the coaching job. <\/a><\/p>\nBut he said he\u2019s thrilled to see Mark McVeigh get a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cJames and I are close and we have a strong relationship and bond,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe chatted through the process and I wasn\u2019t getting involved. I\u2019m sad for him but it didn\u2019t have any impact. Spike will do a great job and fans will fall in love with his passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Crimestoppers\u2019 quietest night of the year\u2019<\/p>\n
AFL boss Andrew Dillon has poked fun at Collingwood fans \u2013 while feting the success of the inaugural wildcard finals round.<\/p>\n
Speaking to a room full of VIPs at the MCG before the Western Bulldogs\u2019 thrilling three point win against the Pies, Mr Dillon couldn\u2019t resist a dig at Collingwood fans who turned out in force as usual in the stands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a historic evening, a game packed with stars, a contest we\u2019ll never forget, and it could be Crimestoppers\u2019 quietest night of the year,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
While Crimestoppers might have been quiet for the evening, it did not stop Collingwood fans brawling among themselves.<\/p>\n
Police evicted four men after Collingwood fans took their frustrations out on each other, clashing in wild scenes after their team kissed its premiership hopes goodbye for another season.<\/p>\n
![\"Pies](\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/613b5d87ebfdedc9cc915d47bf88d51b\")
<\/p>\n
Earlier, Mr Dillon was on a roll about the merits of wildcard round, comparing it tongue-in-cheek with some of modern histories greatest advances such as the wheel, the iPhone and sliced bread.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the CEO of the AFL, occasionally you\u2019re involved in decisions that will be universally loved,\u2019\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cGather round, kids go free month, daytime grand final, a team in Tassie, AFLX.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mr Dillon was beaming at Saturday night\u2019s AFL function, given the success<\/p>\n
of Wildcard round.<\/p>\n
He quipped that some liked to call it \u201cRound 25\u201d when he welcomed guests \u2014 not looking at you Ed Richards \u2014 but he was hailing it as the best start to wildcard round ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased to announce that with a crowd of 81,000 last night, with viewership of reach of 3.5 million and an average broadcast of 1.6 million, that the AFL wildcard final last night was the most viewed and highest attended Wildcard final of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sport Confidential is your wrap of all the footy gossip and banter. Zach Merrett is heading away to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[442927,442921,442898,72756,442914,442917,389106,442889,377450,386792,442905,435029,406063,379201,402325,442924,442876,415658,442908,442894,442907,400200,442881,387445,442875,442916,96093,379546,442925,442895,442882,64,63,170653,442915,442878,442896,10990,440781,60078,442890,19385,379391,257053,1635,16308,22926,440802,442926,525,262867,442901,31682,6854,442885,442918,398270,380886,442897,384730,379530,442922,442887,48340,941,12756,107961,45755,17357,338846,442912,442900,442904,379547,35062,442888,6622,133736,442884,97739,63602,46907,442910,442911,29601,442880,85,1974,5473,325792,379302,442879,420060,387914,380414,398105,382205,442892,398510,404000,442923,442891,380914,403687,442893,442903,442909,387322,376868,386315,442899,379531,442920,428192,379341,378969,442877,442919,414654,442913,442883,209665,442886,442902,354915,158857,442906,25581],"class_list":["post-874055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-stressful-year","tag-s-afl-function","tag-s-new-coach","tag-72756","tag-1-6-million","tag-3-5-million","tag-389106","tag-a-buzz","tag-a-chance","tag-a-coach","tag-a-contest","tag-a-crowd","tag-a-dig","tag-a-game","tag-a-great-job","tag-a-historic-evening","tag-a-large-brawl","tag-a-long-season","tag-a-losing-side-the-former-essendon-captain","tag-a-pretty-stressful-year","tag-a-roll","tag-a-room","tag-a-strong-relationship-and-bond","tag-a-team","tag-again-after","tag-all-the-footy-gossip-and","tag-all-time","tag-an-appearance","tag-an-average-broadcast","tag-another-season-wild-scenes","tag-any-impact","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-banter","tag-blockbuster-three-point-loss","tag-bombers-star-zach-merrett","tag-boss-andrew-dillon","tag-collingwood","tag-collingwood-fans","tag-crimestoppers","tag-daytime-grand-final","tag-decisions","tag-each-other","tag-ed-richards","tag-fans","tag-finals","tag-force","tag-four-men","tag-free-month","tag-fun","tag-gather-round","tag-greatest-advances","tag-guests","tag-hawthorn","tag-hird","tag-his-close-friend-james-hird","tag-his-disappointment","tag-his-future","tag-his-good-friend-james-hird","tag-his-passion","tag-his-time","tag-its-premiership-hopes","tag-james-and-i","tag-james-hird","tag-japan","tag-kids","tag-last-night","tag-last-year","tag-love","tag-mark-mcveigh","tag-merrett","tag-modern-histories","tag-mr-dillon","tag-my-head","tag-night","tag-parkmore-shopping-centre","tag-part","tag-pies-fans","tag-quietest-night","tag-reach","tag-round-25","tag-saturday","tag-sliced-bread","tag-so-many-games","tag-spike","tag-sport-confidential","tag-sports","tag-stars","tag-stock","tag-tassie","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-wildcard-final","tag-the-best-start","tag-the-bombers","tag-the-bulldogs","tag-the-ceo","tag-the-club","tag-the-coaching-job","tag-the-evening","tag-the-fans","tag-the-inaugural-wildcard-finals","tag-the-iphone","tag-the-job","tag-the-mcg","tag-the-merits","tag-the-most-viewed","tag-the-ongoing-toll","tag-the-pies","tag-the-process","tag-the-stands","tag-the-stands-earlier","tag-the-success","tag-the-successof-wildcard-round-he","tag-the-western-bulldogs","tag-the-wheel","tag-the-year","tag-the-yearafl","tag-their-frustrations","tag-their-team","tag-themselves-police","tag-thrilling-three-point-win","tag-viewership","tag-vips","tag-wild-scenes","tag-wildcard-final","tag-wildcard-round","tag-your-wrap","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}