Families of Collingwood and Geelong players blocked from entering Perth hub
Paddy Dangerfield and Scott Pendlebury are among players who will almost certainly have to complete their Perth hub stay and then contemplate placement in another interstate hub without their families.
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The families of multiple Geelong and Collingwood players have been blocked from entering the Perth hub as the two teams begin their lockdown.
Club officials were on Saturday night scrambling to secure special exemption, but were all but certain some players’ partners and young children would have to remain in Melbourne.
Those affected include Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins and superstar Paddy Dangerfield, as well as Collingwood fathers Adam Treloar, Scott Pendlebury, Travis Varcoe, Jack Crisp, Lynden Dunn and Will Hoskin-Elliott.
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It means the players and coaches will almost certainly have to complete the two or three-week Perth hub and then contemplate an extension of the road trip in another interstate hub without their families.
The only Collingwood and Geelong players who have so far received special exemption for their families to self-isolate in Perth either have medical reasons or Western Australian family.
Geelong duo Sam Menegola and Rhys Stanley and Collingwood’s Chris Mayne were all granted permission to bring their family members across the Nullabor as they have WA-based family.
Jordan Roughead also received permission for his partner to be part of the Perth hub after a recent health issue.
But other players who wanted to bring their Melbourne-based family were all-but certain their requests with the WA Government were unsuccessful on Saturday night.
The AFL is keen to condense the next part of the fixture from Round 7, so teams play rapid-fire games off four or five day breaks to help accelerate the season.
It means Geelong and Collingwood players could be asked to play more games in Queensland or New South Wales after their Perth hub is complete.
But, unless their families are permitted to join them in the next hub, some players who are fathers may instead elect to return home to see their partners and children in Melbourne.
The Cats landed in Perth on Saturday and will stay at Crown Perth, but have to catch a bus to a small area where they can go for a walk outside.
They are otherwise confined to the hotel and their hotel rooms and indoor common areas when they are not either training or playing.
The Perth hub is far more restrictive than the situation facing other teams in Sydney and Gold Coast.
Clubs sent to Queensland have been able to bring their family members and drive around in cars.
Geelong and Collingwood players wore masks on the plane flight from Sydney to Perth.
PIES, CATS TRAVEL TO HUB AS AFL PONDERS FIXTURE
Lauren Wood
Hubs version 3.0 are preparing to swing into full gear as the league continues to ponder its looming fixture release.
Collingwood and Geelong flew from Sydney to Perth on Saturday and will begin their mandatory 14-day quarantine period, which has been allowed exemptions for training and playing against each other at Optus Stadium on Thursday night.
St Kilda is also preparing to travel to Adelaide from its Noosa base to take on the Crows after it was overrun by the Dockers.
But as for what will happen beyond then, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin admitted this week that “we haven’t been given any indication … we’ve been told that we’ve probably got five weeks (on the road), but where that takes us, we’re not sure”.
It has been hoped that the Round 8 fixture could be released as soon as Monday, but its unveiling could yet stretch to later in the week.
While the league — which may also opt to condense matches — wants to play as many games as possible before teams return to their home states, it could still elect to only release one or two rounds at a time as it continues to juggle border restrictions, varying quarantine rules across states and the competition.
Victoria recorded another 216 cases of coronavirus on Saturday.
AFL CONSIDERS RADICAL EPL-STYLE FIXTURE
The AFL is considering whether to retain a traditional look for its condensed fixture or adopt a left-field EPL-style format in which teams end up with games in hand on rivals.
The Herald Sun understands the AFL will release the Round 8 schedule on Monday and wants to play as many games as possible before teams return to Melbourne after Round 12.
Clubs could effectively play five games over four weeks by slotting in an extra midweek round for every team.
Another more radical option is to play as many games as possible with some teams playing extra matches.
Under that fixture some teams could get one or even two games ahead of rivals who eventually catch up by the end of the season.
It would be a more confusing fixture for fans but would allow the league to safeguard itself in case it needs to pause the fixture for several weeks while 10 teams come back to Melbourne.
If those Victorian teams had played extra games they could have a bye while the non-Victorian teams catch up.
The AFL was adamant on Friday night no decisions had been made on when clubs would return to Melbourne given the extraordinary speed of developments.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the AFL would need to give clubs more numbers on the bench to allow stars to play every game if it crunched extra games into the schedule.
That request is certain to fall on deaf ears. The AFL has already ticked off the four-man bench with 90 interchanges.
It believes the shorter 16-minute quarters were put in place for exactly this kind of condensed fixture.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the AFL was looking at playing “more than one game a week over a period of time”.
“Whether we can do that and how that works is being worked on at the moment. Seven (rounds) in five (weeks) maybe not, but six in five is certainly a possibility.”
“Can we compress it? We are working on that. Player availability and stress on players is part of that.
“Things have moved again in Queensland in the past 24 hours, so some clubs are working on skinnier lists up there, so that will be part of the mix.”
Hardwick said on Friday: “The one thing I would like is an extended bench.
“You want the stars playing every week and I would look at an extended bench, but smarter men than me can (work through that).
“Steve (Hocking) will work through that with conversations in the coming weeks about what it looks like. You want to see your good players play. It might mean they play two in every three weeks and in the third week they play 50 per cent game time.”
North Melbourne has a touring party of 91 while many clubs have only mid-60s players and personnel in hubs.
Some clubs travelled with only 32 players, but the AFL says securing exemptions to quarantines will be extremely challenging.
It means even if clubs wanted to bring extra players or families into squads they might be prevented from doing so.
The AFL is working with state governments on exemptions that would land arriving players in hard 14-day quarantines with regular testing if it does keep clubs in hubs longer-term.
Carlton coach David Teague says his players are ready for a potential fixture cram while in their interstate hub, sharing his confidence in the Blues’ depth to cover squad rotations.
Teague said the Blues had been preparing for the possibility of a squeezed fixture with their training program during the AFL shutdown period.
“We knew it was a possibility, particularly when we were in the isolation period away from the club,” Teague said.
“We actually designed our training program for our players to be able to back-up five days apart and do solid sessions.”
DOC WARNS OF INJURY RISK
— Rebecca Williams
Sports medicine expert Dr Peter Larkins has warned the injury risk in a crammed AFL fixture would be “quite high”, but says the scenario had been well-planned for.
As the AFL considers a condensed fixture while Victorian teams are in hubs, Dr Larkins said the threat of injury was much higher for players coming off shortened breaks between games due to muscle soreness.
“We always talk about six-day turnarounds being a challenge for clubs in a normal season,” he said.
“Well suddenly, you’ve got a season where that’s thrown out and we could have even shorter turnarounds.
“The injury risk is theoretically quite high because (with) muscle soreness ... that extra day or two that occurs with a six or seven-day turnaround often is a magical extra bit of time for people that have got a corked thigh or a bit of a tight hamstring.
“The chances of an injury manifesting itself the following week if you are a bit sore or tight or have got a minor version of an injury and then aggravate it, that’s an extremely high risk.
“There is so much difference that 24 hours can make to someone who has got a bit of a niggle.”
Dr Larkins suggested the threat of injury in a condensed fixture could be compounded by the disrupted preparation clubs faced during the COVID-19 shutdown and the limit on club staff in hubs.
“The real challenge in 2020 is that they don’t have all that support staff with them in the hubs because they have cut back on the numbers of people that have gone away,” he said.
Dr Larkins said clubs would want to have “10 spare players as a minimum” with them in the hubs if the league condenses the season.
But he believed all the measures the league had taken so far with shortened quarters and games had been a positive preventive step.
“The intention of that was to make the players less tired because they aren’t playing as much footy in any given game,” Dr Larkins said.
“That is having an advantage in terms of the fatigue aspect of it.
“As the season gets deeper, the pressure will be greater to make compromised decisions.
“Once you start to lose a few good people and somebody’s a bit sore and someone plays when he should have had the week off … that’s going to be a real balancing act for teams.
“But that’s been well-planned for.”
JACK: WE’LL NEED REINFORCEMENTS
Jack Riewoldt says Melbourne clubs would need to call for reinforcements if the AFL introduces a fixture that requires teams to play seven games in five weeks.
The acting Richmond captain said the Tigers had a small squad at its Gold Coast hub and would need extra back-up if they have to play more than once a week.
The AFL is expected to release its Round 8 fixture on Friday with another nine rounds still to be scheduled.
The league has told clubs it might end up playing Rounds 6-12 in 32 days while all 10 Melbourne clubs remain in hubs.
It could test the depth of clubs who have taken 28-33 players on the road.
Teams would be playing on average once every four-and-a-half days.
It is a fast-paced schedule that has never been imposed at AFL level. Five-day breaks were once considered too arduous.
The AFL will have to tick off four-day breaks with the AFL Players Association, and could also keep clubs in northern hubs for six weeks and play a condensed schedule.
The AFL said on Thursday night it had not yet locked in the proposal as it continues to work through how to get clubs home in 32 days.
The competition could still have a mid-season pause to assess Melbourne’s coronavirus numbers.
A number of clubs that left some players in Melbourne are considering whether it is possible to fly them back out to join the rest of their teammates in their interstate hub.
Richmond is considering making an application for some of its leftover players to fly north to Queensland.
If the Tigers were allowed across the border, the players would have to be quarantined away from their teammates for up to 14 days before mixing with the initial squad.
Collingwood and Geelong players would also push for family members who were unable to be with them in Western Australia to rejoin them on the third leg of their trip in either Queensland or New South Wales.
Carlton coach David Teague says his players are ready for a potential fixture cram, sharing his confidence in the Blues’ depth to cover squad rotations.
Teague said the Blues had been preparing for the possibility of a squeezed fixture with their training program during the AFL shutdown period.
“We’re comfortable with that. We understood that was a possibility, particularly when we were in the isolation period away from the club,” Teague said.
“We actually designed our training program for our players to be able to back-up five days apart and do solid sessions.
“Right now we will do whatever we need to do to help the AFL continue and obviously it gives us a lot and if we can give back a little bit to the AFL and also to our fans and to our supporters at home, if that is what is required, then I think we’re ready to go.”
Teague said it would not just be older players who required rest if matches were scheduled every five days, but was confident in the squad depth the Blues had to cover resting personnel.
“I think it won’t just be the older guys, it’s easy to say them,” Teague said.
“But there are a number of guys that wouldn’t play if you played five days apart every week. It takes them the full seven days or eight days to get up.
“What we would do is we would have the odd extra players that don’t quite get up for a game in five days and, yep, you’ll need a little bit of squad depth.
“But we’re lucky at the moment that we have got quite a group of players that are playing well in our reserves games that are ready to go and that’s what we’ve wanted.
“We’ve said all along we want competition for spots and at the moment we’re in a really healthy position for that.”
Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves summed up the mood of most clubs, saying: “If they need to shorten those breaks between games, we are up for it.”
The Herald Sun revealed on Monday there might be more Monday night fixtures in the next suite of games but now there could be games most days of the week.
Riewoldt is open to staying for six weeks in Queensland if clubs can get their families up north.
“There is obviously a lot of water to go under the bridge and in principle we would be OK with playing games off four or five-day breaks,” he told his Balls and Bumpers podcast.
“Maybe after three in a row you might start to look for the end of the tunnel.
“I think there are a few complexities to (playing off short breaks). By AFL request we are asked to bring a smaller list up here, because more people on the ground is more cost.
“Trying to do the right thing by that, we have left some players back in Melbourne and two of those players are Shane Edwards and Bachar Houli.
“We would have to ask the question about getting guys up here, we have got pretty limited facilities and how does it fit in with that?
“Ground availability is another one and can grounds withstand playing games of footy nearly every second day at Metricon Stadium and the Gabba which has a centre wicket?”
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said playing so many games in such a short period of time would present challenges.
“I‘ve had some conversations with the AFL and I think there is a tipping point somewhere,” Beveridge said.
“A four-day turnaround will be a huge challenge, it can’t go to three.”
The Tigers’ van containing essential gear hasn’t arrived in Queensland because of border restrictions, meaning Richmond only has a dozen of the 20-odd footballs it would normally use for this week’s main training session.
The players who remain in Melbourne are still allowed to train together in small groups.
SA THROWS HAT IN RING FOR GRAND FINAL
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson
South Australia will join an interstate fight to host its first-ever AFL Grand Final if Melbourne’s deepening COVID-19 crisis rules out the MCG.
Already Perth Stadium has declared an interest in staging the league’s showpiece event.
And on Wednesday AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said Sydney’s 80,000-capacity ANZ stadium would be considered if the game could not return to Victoria this season.
The SA Government and Adelaide Oval bosses are watching the situation keenly, with the AFL to make a call on the Grand Final’s location in August.
Dual Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley said the 53,000 crowd that attended the 2019 AFLW grand final would be a boost to Adelaide’s chances.
“It would be massive,” he said.
But Bickley said he was also a fan of Brisbane great Alastair Lynch’s call for the state whose team won the McClelland Trophy as minor premiers to host the Grand Final.
“That has some merit,” he said.
Adelaide Oval also allows crowds, with up to 25,000 permitted for the Crows’ home game against St Kilda in Round 7.
The Oval’s Stadium Management Authority has said it would be interested if there was the opportunity arose to host the Grand Final but there has been no official bid yet.
“If the AFL wants to talk then we are happy to listen,” SA Sports Minister Corey Wingard said.
“We have been in conversations (with the AFL) right the way through … right from the get go we have had chats with them about how wonderful South Australia and South Australians have done in keeping the state safe.
“It is a moving feast every day … and if the AFL was looking to move the Grand Final Adelaide would be a perfect location.
“If it is available we will be knocking on the door.”
WA Premier Mark McGowan could make a decision as early as Friday morning about whether his state moves to Stage 5 on the COVID-19 plan.
This would mean full capacity at venues, and 60,000-plus fans at the Derby in Round 7 — after Fremantle temporarily halted ticket sales for the match earlier this week as the Government works out if it allows a full house at Optus Stadium next week.
Optus Stadium chief executive Mike McKenna said with big crowds like this WA would be a great venue for the Grand Final.
“The most important thing is the health of the country and the people of Victoria,” he said.
“You wouldn’t want to wish that they were still suffering from these conditions when the Grand Final comes around.
“But should the Victorian Government determine that they can’t hold a game with fans and the AFL are looking elsewhere, where else would you go?
“Where else is a better place to host it than Optus Stadium?”
Originally published as Families of Collingwood and Geelong players blocked from entering Perth hub