The Seven-Ten alliance hoping to topple Nine for AFL TV rights got a big run in
the weekend press, with much interesting speculation about who did what to
whom, where and when.

In The Weekend Australian, Mark Day, Richard Gluyas and Errol Simper raised the suggestion that Nine
approached the ABC last week, possibly to offer the national broadcaster cheap
or even free AFL rights alongside Nine because it provides comprehensive
national reach.

TheWeekend Oz also raised the more pertinent question: how will Kerry Packer respond to this
threat to his hegemony and his ego? “If all this stirs the Big Fella,” they
quote an insider as saying, “then it’s goodnight (for Seven and Ten).” While
the AFL rights are effectively a loss-leader, says the insider, “the real
point, as far as Nine is concerned, is that Packer senior hates to lose.” But
the insider makes the point that KP “tends to be happier when there’s something
to be shitty about because it proves he’s needed,” adding the tip that “if
you’re delivering bad news, it’s best to get out of the way. He throws things.”

CRIKEY: So what will the Big Fella throw at this curly problem? Expect the
kitchen sink and even a helicopter or two. He’s mad as hell, and would be
highly supportive of Eddie McGuire’s comment on the Melbourne Footy Show last Thursday: “There’s an old Broady (Broadmeadows) saying, ‘It’s not who
throws the first punch in a fight, it’s who throws the last punch’.”

To which Herald Sun footballer writer Mike Sheahan added this line on Saturday: “There’s an old
saying in Toorak, ‘Whoever’s got the most money wins’.”