It’s fair to say that the past few months haven’t gone the way that the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) would have envisioned. Properly taking control of Australia’s top footballing tier from Football Australia ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, the organisation has seen their grandiose plans dashed on the rocks of the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and, instead, have been forced to scramble simply to deliver a full season in the face of mounting postponements and general chaos. But there have been some missteps that can’t be attributed to COVID. And as the honeymoon period has begun to end, fans have begun to ask questions surrounding the direction of the leagues under their new operators. To give some insight, APL Managing Director Danny Townsend joined ESPN’s Joey Lynch for the second of Beyond the Lead’s exclusive conversations with the major players in Australian football; providing an insight into why he is still optimistic about the direction of the game.