With simply 9 and a half minutes left in Melbourne and Collingwood’s seasons, an finish to a disappointing 2024 for each golf equipment took longer than anybody would have anticipated, when play was known as to a halt on account of lightning.
With the Magpies holding a 41-point lead, the umpires put a cease to proceedings and invoked a compulsory 20-minute delay, with commentators and followers having already seen a lightning bolt above the MCG some minutes earlier than.
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Play ultimately was given the all-clear to renew at 10:32pm (AEST), 36 minutes after the preliminary 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 comparable circumstances.
“What a catastrophe!” commentator Brian Taylor cried on Channel 7.
Beneath AFL guidelines, play should cease for at least 20 minutes and might solely resume when lightning strikes out of a 10-kilometre radius of the bottom, with play capable of be delayed indefinitely underneath the discretion of the AFL’s govt normal supervisor, Laura Kane.
A match can solely be known as off, nevertheless, if the delay exceeds 60 minutes.
Given the match was past doubt when play was stopped, barring a miracle Demons comeback, and with neither aspect in finals competition – the Magpies would wish Carlton to lose by roughly 150 factors if their profitable margin remained at 41 factors, whereas additionally requiring Fremantle to be defeated – Channel 7 commentator and former nice Luke Hodge prompt captains Darcy Moore and Max Gawn ought to have the facility to shake fingers and name the match off early.
“You possibly can see the look on the gamers’ faces – they simply need it to be completed,” Hodge stated.
“Each groups know their season’s finished… can each groups go and say ‘effectively, we are able to’t make finals, can we pull the pin?’”
“I don’t suppose they will, legally, however you’d really feel prefer it!” Taylor replied.
“The primary-class cricket match the place the 2 captains simply stroll up and go ‘we’ve had sufficient, that’ll do!” laughed co-commentator James Brayshaw, a former cricketer for South Australia himself.