And speaking of Age journos in London, have a read of Saturday's Caro interview with Demetriou. It is a new benchmark for arrogance.
AD finds it "faintly ludicrous" that anyone could question him having seven weeks off in the middle of the footy season.
"My family deserved some time," he says.
Why, Andy? Do they pay you $2.2 million a year as well?
Having been a guest of AFL sponsor Australia Post for week one of the games, he is now a guest of Foxtel. No wonder he's looking "tanned and relaxed" while having a coffee on top of Harvey Nicks. Any danger of dipping into your own kick?
"He believes the games have been beneficial ... commercially for the AFL in ways he does not detail." Perhaps because they don't exist?
Almost everyone in the game gives the bloke a free pass based on $1.2 billion for the media rights. The NRL, which has never had as big a following as Aussie rules, is a relatively unattractive game and has been woefully mismanaged for at least two decades, will easily get $1 billion when its deal is signed. The fact is that media rights for popular spectator sports are extremely valuable and getting more so. You don't have to be Don Draper to sell them.
Connolly's criticisms of the AFL are entirely valid, but Demetriou and his cronies will continue to mismanage with their current levels of arrogance and smugness until someone tells them to pull their heads in. Doubt that it will Mike Fitzpatrick.
A perfect example was the buffoon Anderson's indignance at criticism of the MRP. It was like, how dare anyone criticise a body headed by Mark Fraser? Well, let's see ... he's a failed player and failed umpire. So of course he'll be a successful MRP chairman.
The entire AFL judicial system is a joke, apparent to all except Andrew Demetriou, Gillon McLachlan and Adrian Anderson.
Someone in the media needs to launch a concerted campaign to explode the myth of AFL competence. I'm tipping it won't be Caro.