Having become an international joke after the Loaf’s disastrous 2011 pre-game performance, the league opted against finding artists from the Andrew Demetriou car-tape collection and instead used local acts like Birds of Tokyo, Temper Trap, Tim Rogers and Hunters & Collectors for that last Saturday in September.
But with Gillon McLachan now pulling the strings at AFL house, the league has gone international again, signing up 74-year-old Jones for this year’s game, along with Ed Sheeran and Olivia Newton-Johns.
It may have been a few years since Jones had knickers tossed at him but to be fair to the AFL, he’s still knocking them out of the park, earning rave reviews at a series of recent gigs.
Unfortunately for Jones – who was used by the NRL to help market their 2000 season – he will join a list of not-so luminous AFL Grand Final entertainers. This list includes: Barry Crocker (1977), Daryl Somers (1987), Angry Anderson (1991), Human Nature (1999), The Whitlams (2002) and INXS minus Hutchence (2010).
At any rate, we were trying to work out what tracks from the Jones back catalogue would relate to the AFL and this was what we came up with:
What’s New Pussycat? A certainty to be played if Geelong make it.
Sex Bomb: This one could be just about Gillon McLachlan’s hair!
Mama Told Me Not To Come: I haven’t got a smart-arse reason for this one, I just like the song.
Of course, whatever happens Jones will be hard-pressed beating Meat Loaf for dodginess, although we reckon Angry's performance is better than expected.