IN 1986, the VFL was on its knees.

Seven clubs – including the last two premiers Footscray and Richmond, and 2018 grand finalist Collingwood – were “technically insolvent”.

Some pretty wild ideas were floated, such as permanently moving the grand final to Waverley Park with a new railway line, a public lottery to raise funds for clubs and forced mergers.

But one idea proved to be the saviour – bring in more interstate clubs, a move that had saved South Melbourne when it moved to Sydney in 1982.

The arrival of the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears in 1987 provided the licence revenue and improved television rights deal to keep the league alive and most of the all-but bankrupt Melbourne clubs survived.

It was officially renamed the Australian Football League in 1990.

The national league has been a resounding success, given three of the top-five most supported clubs are interstate according to a 2018 Roy Morgan poll (1. Sydney, 2. Collingwood, 3. Essendon, 4. Adelaide, 5. West Coast).

So as a “sporting nation” purporting to be all in favour of the “fair go”, is it fair that teams who win the rights to a “home” grand final are repeatedly having to play the game on the homeground or in the home city of their opponent?

Consider that, since the Brisbane Lions sides of the early 2000s, Sydney’s 2012 triumph over Hawthorn is the only time an interstate side has beaten a Victorian team in a grand final.

In 2014 to 2018 GFs, interstate teams who finished higher than their Victorian opponents have given up their homeground advantage. All four lost, pending a fifth.

2014: Sydney (1st) lost to Hawthorn (2nd)

2015: West Coast (2nd) lost to Hawthorn (3rd)

2016: Sydney (1st) lost to W Bulldogs (7th)

2017: Adelaide (1st) lost to Richmond (3rd)

The MCG holds about 100,000, but up to 30,000 of those could go to corporate ticket holders and more in the MCC. So would the real fans really be missing out if the AFL moved to a Super Bowl-style rotation, given Perth and Sydney now have huge stadiums?

Or maybe we can all just barrack for West Coast on Saturday, and hope an Eagles win puts the debate to bed for another decade.

After all, they kept Collingwood alive.