MAYBE you can have too much of a good thing. And good things don't always come in threes.

Gather Round version 2 did deliver some thought-provoking themes last week.

First, Gather Round is considered too good for just one serving a year that the festival of football should (to some) become a road show across the nation once there are 19 AFL teams from 2028 with the long-awaited advent of the Tasmania Devils.

Opening round in Melbourne with 18 of the 19 AFL teams in Victoria; a gathering of the league (minus one club) in Sydney to assist the development and image of Australian football (not just the AFL) and the original Gather Round to alternate between Adelaide and Perth during the more challenging winter months.

Every AFL club would be invited to two of the three annual festivals of football.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas would be watching history - and his childhood - repeat. Yet again, when South Australia and Adelaide breaks the stereotype of being conservative by boldly gambling on a new concept - and super-charging its economy along the way - the rest of the nation wants to take the show away. Think back to the Formula One Grand Prix ...

Premier Malinauskas is at the mercy of AFL House, which constantly reminds all that it is in charge of the fixture. And he has a Catch 22 dilemma. If Gather Round runs out of verve in Adelaide, Mount Barker and the Barossa, the league will certainly want to take the show on the road for a refresher to the next city prepared to bid with significant financial indictments. And if, just as this year's Gather Round will prove, the festival becomes a strong economic impetus for South Australia, there will be other State governments chasing the event with greater gusto ... and more coin.

One "Gather Round" is ideal. Three seems to be asking too much of an event that needs to stand alone to emphasise its beauty.

Second, there is now a group of agitated AFL coaches led by Geelong premiership master Chris Scott who are recalling former league chief executive Gillon McLachlan saying Gather Round would be a neutral event with no team to have a home-field advantage.

Of course, to maximise attendance, Port Adelaide plays at Adelaide Oval, scoring a 13th game at the city venue. There is no point in assigning Port Adelaide any game at The Parade, Mount Barker or Lyndoch. The count of fans missing out on tickets to those smaller venues would be a disaster for all.

So Mr Scott and others say Port Adelaide should play a Showdown in Gather Round, creating the third derby of the year at Adelaide Oval.

Of course, the regular Showdown cannot be conceded to Gather Round fixturing because tickets to the festival games are tied to the AFL. It would be a heavy hit on the Port Adelaide season passes should the club's home Showdown be lost to a neutral Gather Round derby.

Three Showdowns in one season, along with the now predictable pre-season derby? Seems too much of a good thing doesn't it?

Port Adelaide president David Koch's rebuttal with the request that Scott "cry me a river" and Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley's reminder to Scott that the MCG is not a neutral venue for the far-more-important grand final seems enough to close this debate.

Third, but certainly not insignificant, was the almost predictable story of the Norwood Football Club seeking to be the league's 20th team ... a concept that stops the need for more than one Gather Round as no-one would miss out on a game in Adelaide once the competition returns to an even number of teams.

The AFL Commission will seek to establish the 20th AFL club in a Darwin-Cairns alignment between the Northern Territory and North Queensland. Such an agenda is more important to the AFL out of the growing concern for the diminishing numbers of First Nations representatives in the game today.

Norwood has every right to seek to become South Australia's third entry to the national league. But, just as Bruce McAvaney said last week as a dissenting voice, Norwood had its chance. Actually, it had two chances - the first in 1990 when it left three VFL officials with indigestion after their meal at a fish cafe on The Parade; and in 1994 when Port Adelaide claimed the second AFL licence based in South Australia.

Once, some 40 years ago, the thought of Port Adelaide and Norwood in a national competition seemed fit for purpose. Now, it is just a lost opportunity.