The board of Rio Tinto might only have three Australian-based directors these days, but one of them, AFL President Mike Fitzpatrick, is presumably showing off his local connections by hosting the board at tomorrow’s grand final.

That’s the only conclusion you can draw from Rio Tinto’s decision to have its extraordinary general meeting to vote on the $US44 billion Alcan takeover on grand final eve in Melbourne. However, the midday start time clashed with the grand final parade, so they clearly don’t want to maximise numbers.