Prime minister Anthony Albanese had the Grand Final Breakfast in stitches on Saturday morning with a number of snappy one-liners, and a hilarious roast of outgoing AFL chief Gillon McLachlan.
Albanese was in fine form as he spoke in Melbourne ahead of the season finale between the Geelong Cats and Sydney Swans.
He warmed up by poking fun at McLachlan for his pronunciation of names during the Brownlow Medal, when Melbourne star Christian Petracca was visibly angered by the AFL chief’s failed attempts at his last name.
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“I’m glad that you didn’t have to do the honours of introducing me today. I understand from Christian Petracca that you have a few problems with the Italian surnames,” Albanese joked.
Next in line was Friday’s Grand Final Parade, which came under fire for putting players on barges and towing them along the Yarra River, far away from fans on the banks.
“To Gill, I would say having watched the parade on the Yarra yesterday, to quote a former prime minister, ‘we do need to stop the boats’,” Albanese said.
But not all the jokes were roasting others.
Albanese didn’t take himself too seriously when joking about the calibre of guests at the Grand Final Breakfast when compared to the entertainment at the MCG.
“We are lucky to have so many representatives here from federal and state politics. People at the ‘G get Robbie Williams and Delta Goodrem, you get me and Peter Dutton, so, sorry about that.”
That led to a shoutout for Tasmania premier Jeremy Rockliff, who is still waiting for an answer on whether the AFL will hand the state a licence for a 19th team.
“Can I give a special shoutout to the premier of Tasmania who’s with us, Jeremy Rockliff. Jeremy has been camping outside AFL House for a couple of weeks now waiting for news on the Tassie AFL team, so it’s nice he’s been let in here for a hot meal,” Albanese joked.
Lastly, he offered some praise for his Sydney Swans, saying: “Win or lose, they’ve done Australia a great favour by knocking out Collingwood last week by a point. Sorry, Eddie (McGuire).”
