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ith the 2020 AFL Grand Final to be played by night at the Gabba, Saturday October 24, and The Voice’s Tim McCallum set to sing the national anthem; predictions about the game’s marquee entertainment act are circulating.

The AFL recently announced Mike Brady will perform his song “Up there Cazaly” as part of the 2020 Toyota AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment.

Brady will perform the song from the MCG, as a nod to Victoria and the traditional home of the Toyota AFL Grand Final.

The performance will be beamed onto the big screens at the Gabba and into the Channel Seven broadcast.

AFL executive general manager of commercial and customer, Kylie Rogers, said Brady’s anthem was the perfect choice to be part of a unique Grand Final event.

“Mike Brady has firmly established himself as the performer with the most AFL Grand Final appearances and for good reason, his iconic song Up there Cazaly has become a modern Australian folk song,” Rogers said.

“Mike’s performance in the pre-game will be the perfect nod to the MCG and the traditional home of the Grand Final,” she said.

The AFL is spending an estimated $30,000 per week on COVID-19 testing, in addition to quarantine accommodation and other costs, raising the question of whether or not they would be able to afford to pay their performers.

A call-out was released to schools, for volunteer dancers to partake in the “largest mass scale televised event of the year.”

The call-out specified that dancers must be over the age of 15, and “strong performers”.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s (MEAA) Sam Gaskin told Channel 10’s The Project: “I’m sure the players are being paid.”

“I’m sure the cleaners are being paid.

“I’m sure the people serving the pies and the beers are being paid.

“So why on earth would we expect our performers not to be?” he said.

Queensland-based Cochrane Entertainment will be producing an entertainment offering, and Mushroom Group Chairman, Michael Gudinski, and Anna Toman securing artists.

Rogers also said: “we have a fantastic opportunity at the Gabba this year to deliver a unique event and entertainment offering around the biggest match of the season and I know we will produce a world-class show all footy fans will be proud of.”

Cochrane Entertainment’s Thea Jeanes-Cochrane, said: “we are very keen to highlight Brisbane and Queensland talent along with some iconic Australian artists in a spectacular setting.”

“The Gabba during twilight and night is an ideal venue to really undertake some truly memorable moments, and with 26 days to the Grand Final our team, alongside the AFL, is working around the clock to deliver.”

AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan, said: “I’ve seen an email with heaps of names on it and I’m pretty confident they’ll be Australian… definitely Australian.”

The league’s broadcasting boss, Travis Auld, stated: “I think the one thing we would say is we want something that speaks to Queensland.”

“This is not about playing a Melbourne event in Brisbane, this is about talking to Queensland and everything Queensland has to offer and I think you’ll see that come through as we start to build out what the overall event looks like.”

A recent Facebook post from top contender Powderfinger, would “put the rumour mill out of business” explaining that they “were extremely flattered to have been asked to perform at the Gabba AFL, GF”, however the time was not right, and the band would “rather make way for active Queensland artists”.

Powderfinger did, however, post: “might see some of you at the Gabba Oct 24 but we will just have a beer and a pie in hand, not guitars”, so if you’re a fan all hope is not yet lost.

They went onto list artists they believed would be suited to perform, which included Amy Shark, Ball Park Music, Busby Marou, Cub Sport, DUNE RATS, DZ Deathrays, Nat Dunn, The Chats, Thelma Plum, Violent Soho, and WAAX.