ADELAIDE Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley has said it\u2019s \u201can absolute no-brainer\u201d for an interstate club to own a game on Anzac Day alongside the marquee Collingwood vs Essendon clash.<\/p>\n
When Anzac Day falls on most weekdays, two old rivals in the Magpies and Bombers host a standalone fixture at the MCG, a clash that often draws over 90,000 fans.<\/p>\n
The brainchild of Kevin Sheedy has been a mainstay since 1995. Other games are often played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while St Kilda also launched a game in New Zealand that lasted three years earlier this century.<\/p>\n
But Bickley believes there\u2019s potential for another permanent fixture, one featuring at least one interstate team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute no-brainer from where I sit,\u201d he said on SEN SA Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be both non-Victorian clubs\u2026 I know it can be sometimes problematic for clubs, Tuesday games, short breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bickley called on a club to take upon the responsibility of creating and growing another permanent Anzac Day game.<\/p>\n
He named Port Adelaide with its history of the Peter Badcoe Medal and Fremantle as clubs who should throw up a suggestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think someone has to try and own it. Let\u2019s say Port Adelaide, they\u2019ve put a fair bit of effort into the Peter Badcoe Medal, that\u2019s one of their number one requests every year to have a home game [there],\u201d Bickley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if they do their research and work out there\u2019s an appetite for it, go to the AFL with a concept, say, \u2018we\u2019re happy to do it, we know it means short weeks every now and then but we want to own it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what Collingwood and Essendon did all those years ago, they came up with that idea, mainly Kevin Sheedy was the mastermind behind it and they built it and kept bolting onto it every year to make it the spectacle it is today.<\/p>\n
\u201c[A club like] Fremantle, why wouldn\u2019t why want to own it? They could conjure up some history\u2026 if you\u2019re an interstate club, try and create something, don\u2019t just expect it to be handed to you on a platter.\u201d<\/p>\n