Conducting an interview with journalist Paul Radley, McGuire reiterated his ambition to expand the game beyond Australia’s shores and host a competitive fixture Dubai, similar to what took place in 2008 when Collingwood faced Adelaide in a NAB Cup fixture in the city.
Mooted as the centrepiece of a celebration of Australian trade and culture in the region, McGuire outlined to The National in a two-page spread that his vision would transform the fixture into an event, replicating the festival atmosphere of Dubai’s rugby sevens tournament.
"There is very much an appetite to take the game internationally," McGuire said.
"Back in 2008, we had a really good crowd for a match that was basically a glorified practice match.
"If that competition [the Nab Cup] remains, we could do one of those matches again without any trouble.
"But if that competition sees its demise and the [regular] season is extended, then it opens up the possibility of playing a full-blooded game for [Premiership] points.
"That will lift the intensity of not just the game but the occasion for everyone involved in it."
The United Arab Emirates has emerged as an eminent global sporting hub in recent times, with an annual Formula 1 event, FIFA’s Club World Cup and regular V8 Supercars round among a litany of world class contests and events hosted in the last five years.
Reflecting a shift in international business and diplomacy, the sporting world has increasingly turned its gaze to Asia, highlighted by the English Premier League proposing to incorporate an additional round of matches staged abroad, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi looming as mooted host cities.
"We were aware of the (English Premier League) suggestion and it is one that still stands," McGuire said.
"We are all used to touring matches, friendlies, exhibition games, etc, but if you are playing for the real deal, you are seeing a real game in your back yard.
"If the season was to change then it would be like that '39th round' (a proposed extra round of matches in the English Premier League to be played at neutral matches outside England) and it gives you an opportunity to look at playing one of those extra games in an expansion territory.
"At the very least, we want to get people interested in watching it. Just as the NFL is a massive domestic product, so is the AFL in Australia."
