Andrew Demetriou is loving the balmy weather in Melbourne this week. He's been wearing board shorts to work.

He's also looking forward to the Socceroos' World Cup quarter-final against Argentina and is quite relieved that Kevin Rudd survived the leadership spill in Canberra last week. Rudd v Abbott at the federal election later this year. It should go down to the wire.

Welcome to the alternate reality that is the world of the AFL chief executive. In his world, things aren't as everyone else seems to believe. And just as there has never been any tanking for early draft picks in the last few years, nor are there any problems with the surface at Etihad Stadium.

As he said last month after Western Bulldogs midfielder Shaun Higgins hurt his ankle there last month, the surface is "absolutely" safe.

Of course, those who don't live in the same world as the AFL boss might see things a little differently. We see an Etihad surface that looks every bit as treacherous as it did when Higgins hurt himself a few weeks back and Chris Judd nearly did his ankle a fortnight ago. Nearly two weeks of lying fallow doesn't seem to have cured the surface of its ills.

The Channel Ten boys had a good look at the surface throughout the Carlton-Brisbane match tonight and at quarter-time highlighted several clumps of turf flying around and enough divots to suggest Al Czervik and Judge Smail had just played 18 holes.

There's not much chance for the surface to get better any time soon. There are 10 AFL games scheduled there for the rest of the month, as well as next week's EJ Whitten Legends Game and the small matter of a Bledisloe Cup match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks as well. By the time we get to August, the moon might present a better playing surface.

Higgins will be back for the Bulldogs tomorrow night, so we can be thankful his injury wasn't major. But the surface is a ticking time bomb and if a player was to suffer a season ending injury, particularly if that player is from a side with aspirations of playing in the finals, the quiet unrest about the state of the Etihad surface could quickly become a roar.

In the meantime, we've been in touch with Demetriou once more. He said the Carlton-Brisbane game was one of the best he's ever seen - particularly the sublime, turnover-free footy - and he reckons the Lions are good things for this year's flag.