Hands off Melbourne's Brownlow Medal count, it went to Sydney once and it flopped.
That was the message from Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu as he responded to reports the AFL has been in secret talks with the NSW government to take the event to Sydney next year.
"The Brownlow night has been elsewhere once before and it was a flop," he told reporters on Thursday, referring to when the count was held in Sydney in 1999.
"Everybody I talk to in the footy world says it was a flop when it went elsewhere and I would be surprised if all the Victorian players wanted to travel interstate for the Brownlow."
Mr Baillieu said his understanding was the AFL has no intention of moving the Brownlow.
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AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said there were no plans to move the glamour event to Sydney.
The rumoured move would coincide with the launch of Sydney's second AFL team.
An $850 million facelift of Sydney's Star City Casino is the key in the bid to host the event.
A grand hall in the redevelopment will hold up to 4000 people, dwarfing Crown's Palladium in Melbourne, which has a capacity of 1700.
