Gold Coast Suns, Brisbane Lions lock in Round 1 preparation after Cyclone Alfred
The Lions have been unable to train on soaked grounds in Brisbane, so will fly south early ahead of their clash with Sydney, while the Suns have dodged the carnage felt by NRL neighbours the Titans.
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The Brisbane Lions will relocate to Sydney on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Swans at the SCG, with Lions football boss Danny Daly vowing “our preparation will be spot on” despite the reigning premiers’ heavily impacted lead-in.
While southeast Queensland begins its clean-up in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred, which lashed the region across the weekend leaving almost one million homes without power, the Lions will fly south earlier than usual to maximise their preparation ahead the grand final rematch in Sydney.
Brisbane’s bosses met on Monday and the decision was made to fly to Sydney two days ahead of schedule, given the waterlogged state of both the Gabba and the club’s regular training base at Springfield in Brisbane’s western suburbs.
The Lions have not been able to train outdoors since last Wednesday, when the club held an intraclub match following the cancellation of Thursday night’s Opening Round clash with Geelong at the Gabba.
Daly said the club’s thoughts were “first and foremost” with those impacted by the extreme weather event, adding that, in the context of football, it was time to “find a way to just deal with it and get on with it.”
“These things happen unfortunately in life, and you just need to be resilient, be calm about it and work your way through it. So I’ve got no doubt our preparation will be spot on leading into our game against Sydney,” Daly said.
“We have the players back in the club today (Monday) and they will have a bit of a hitout indoors to get themselves up and going again.
“We have been chatting to the AFL today and they have been fantastic through this whole past week in accommodating our needs and everything that we needed to do.”
Daly said the club would look to train outdoors on Tuesday where possible before flying to Sydney on Wednesday, where it would seek a dry venue to train at on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s game.
The Lions’ decision comes after NRL side the Gold Coast Titans announced it would relocate to Sydney on Tuesday to prepare for Sunday’s match against the Canterbury Bulldogs.
The Titans’ facility at Parkwood on the Gold Coast was heavily impacted by flooding, with water rising above the crossbar of the goalposts on the club’s main training field.
It was better news for the Gold Coast Suns, who were able to train on their main training oval on Sunday.
Players and staff have a day off on Monday, but plan to return to training on Tuesday.
The Suns will travel to Perth to play West Coast on Sunday.
SUNS, LIONS’S EARLY MOVEMENTS AFTER ALFRED
Gold Coast returned to training at People First Stadium on Sunday morning as the Lions postponed a light run with hopes of getting back to the club on Monday.
Strong winds and over 300mm of rain hit south east Queensland across the weekend as ex-tropical cyclone Alfred crossed land in the state.
The Suns players had a light run on People First Stadium and will only fly out for Perth on Saturday for their clash against West Coast on Sunday afternoon.
Brisbane had plans to get its players together on Sunday for a light run and indoor session but with roads still unsafe and strong winds remaining that session will not go ahead.
With trees ripped out of the ground and storm damage in the Brisbane suburbs, it was decided players should stay in their homes.
The Lions will try to convene again on Monday for a session that often takes place indoors ahead of a more rigorous Tuesday session.
With most players having a treadmill or spin bike in their homes they have still been able to turn their legs over across the weekend.
The AFL had been open to shifting the Lions to Sydney early if they could not train this week but at this stage Brisbane will try to stay in the state.
A full-blown 120 minute practice game last Wednesday allowed the club to get valuable loading into the legs of players.
Charlie Cameron kicked nine goals from a forward pocket, while returning ACL victim Darcy Gardiner will play in a VFL practice match next weekend if he gets through training.
AFL SCRAMBLES TO HELP LIONS AVOID CYCLONE ALFRED CHAOS
The AFL is open to helping Brisbane fly out of the state early for next Saturday’s clash against Sydney as the two Queensland teams await the potentially ferocious impact of Cyclone Alfred.
Alfred is likely to hit southeast Queensland and northern NSW midmorning on Saturday as the first tropical cyclone to reach land in that area in 50 years.
Brisbane has not trained since playing a full scratch match on Wednesday, while the Suns are scheduled to train at People First Stadium on Sunday.
Lions coach Chris Fagan said on Thursday given potential storm damage and high winds Brisbane was unsure of its program leading into that SCG game.
“Maybe we might need to talk to the AFL about the idea of coming down to Sydney, say on Tuesday so we can do our training down there and be ready for the game, provided of course all our families are safe up here,” he told Fox Footy.
The AFL on Friday said it was open to flying the Lions down early if the conditions prevent them from training early in the week.
Gold Coast is still hopeful that it might be able to train late on Sunday or early on Monday morning and the Suns have more time before a Sunday clash in Perth against West Coast.
They will only fly out late next week and with exceptional drainage at People First Stadium are confident of getting back on that ground early.
The Suns believe their postponed clash against Essendon will likely be the final game of the rescheduled round 24, which now has 10 AFL games.
The AFL will again reserve the right to wait until three weeks before round 24 this year until it locks in that set of games.
The Gold Coast-Essendon game is still the most likely clash on the Wednesday or Thursday after the weekend of round 24.
But the AFL will reserve the right to play either Essendon-Carlton or Port Adelaide-Gold Coast if it is obvious by round 21 that both the Dons and Suns have faded from finals contention.
Last year the AFL delayed locking in round 24 until several days after round 21 to ensure maximum drama.
The league got that drama in droves as St Kilda’s Jack Higgins denied Carlton a crucial win with a late goal that could have ended their September hopes.
Then Port Adelaide took care of business against Port Adelaide to allow the Blues passage to September, denying the Dockers.
The league will still have hopes that it can schedule the final 10 games of the year in a manner that provides the best chance of similar fireworks.
Originally published as Gold Coast Suns, Brisbane Lions lock in Round 1 preparation after Cyclone Alfred
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