Worst fears confirmed: What Vic lockdown means for AFL

Victoria has confirmed football’s worst fears with the entire season now at crisis point as Covid wreaks havoc on the fixture.

No more crowds.

The 2021 AFL season fixture is in tatters.

Round 11 had already been flipped on its head, but the entire season is now at crisis point following the Victorian Department of Health’s lockdown announcement on Thursday.

Acting Premier James Merlino confirmed Melbourne will again endure stage three lockdown restrictions, with only four reasons for people to leave home within a 5km boundary.

The lockdown is scheduled to last until 11.59pm on June 3.

It was first reported just minutes before the announcement that the biggest game of the season is now in jeopardy following a Melbourne player unwittingly attending a training session with teammates after visiting one of the listed exposure hot spots.

It is now being reported the Friday night top-of-the-table blockbuster between the Demons and Western Bulldogs could now be scrapped or delayed.

ABC journalist Tom Maddocks also posted on Twitter the Demons and Bulldogs have been ordered into isolation on Thursday morning as a result.

Both Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge cancelled their press conferences on Thursday morning.

The chaos has prompted speculation the league is desperately moving to re-schedule Richmond’s clash with Adelaide to the Friday night time slot as cover for the Demons-Dogs clash being postponed.

The Tigers-Crows game was already reported to have been moved from Melbourne to Sydney, where it is expected to be played at Giants Stadium.

The league remembers the cold feeling of an empty stadium.

South Australia’s border closure will prevent the Crows from travelling to Melbourne or the Tigers going to Adelaide, prompting the pivot to Sydney.

Gold Coast’s scheduled clash against Hawthorn in Darwin on Saturday night has already been canned. The Northern Territory has shut its doors on the two clubs, but there is still hope it could be moved to another venue interstate. It’s increasingly likely the teams will instead have their bye weekend moved forward.

Every game still going ahead in Melbourne will be played without any crowds attending. Government officials have stated the league has permission for games to go ahead in Melbourne - but only behind closed doors.

Fans will also be robbed of watching Collingwood and Geelong clash at the MCG and St Kilda host the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon, costing the host clubs hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

Victoria’s escalating situation, which spiked on Wednesday when health authorities confirmed six new local cases, taking the number of active cases in Victoria to 23, has been exacerbated by last weekend’s AFL matches.

It is expected to get worse before it gets better with states beginning to close their borders to Melbourne with clubs facing the prospect of fleeing interstate.

The domino effect of matches and teams being moved has left clubs and league officials making calls on the run to try and save the season from being suspended indefinitely.

It reached crisis point on Thursday when reports first emerged the top-of-the-table blockbuster between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne

Troubling photo from Bombers-Kangaroos game

Fans were shoulder to shoulder on the Marvel Stadium concourses.

An image of a packed concourse at Marvel Stadium during the Essendon-North Melbourne game on May 23 has sparked fears after it was revealed a positive case was in attendance.

“Individuals sitting on level 1 between aisles 5 and 28, or level 3 in between aisles 6 and 29, must get tested and stay isolated until they have received a negative result,” Victoria’s Health Department warned on Wednesday.

“The department is working with the AFL and Marvel Stadium to contact spectators to provide this advice.”

People who are considered close contacts will be directly provided more specific advice.

Other spectators at the stadium are advised to check for symptoms and be tested if any develop.

It comes just one day after the MCG was listed as a Covid hotspot because an infectious person attended the Collingwood versus Port Adelaide clash on Sunday.

The AFL said it had ensured each match had a COVIDSafe event plan that was endorsed by the relevant state health department.

“Each plan has specific measures in place to reduce any potential risk, including the sectioning of grounds to limit patron movement and implementation of both ticketing data capture and QR code scans for efficient contact tracing purposes,” a statement read.

Players placed in seven-day lockdown

Luke Jackson and Clayton Oliver run laps during a Demons AFL training session at Gosch's Paddock. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The AFL ramped up Covid protocols for all of its Victorian clubs.

All 10 clubs were told there can be no crossover between their AFL and VFL programs for the next seven days and players are only able to leave their home for basic needs like exercise, groceries, petrol or compassionate reasons.

They are also not allowed to have visitors at their home.

Port Adelaide’s players were also forced into self-isolation because of the case at their clash against Collingwood but all have since returned negative tests.

The league is reportedly also investigating the possibility of setting up interstate hubs, like it did last season, in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Four-time premiership player Jordan Lewis believes players would be heavily thinking about the numerous scenarios ahead, with the potential for Victorian teams to depart the state on Thursday.

The move would be to beat any potential lockdown measures that could stop Round 11 from happening.

“Anytime you go through something for the first time, there is always that feeling of ‘this might be an exciting adventure’,” Lewis explained on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“And now the reality hits, now however you dealt with it last year whether it be good, bad or indifferent – those memories would come flooding back today, especially if you are in Victoria right now.

“This thing as we’ve seen in the last 24 hours, it moves so quickly. You would be mad if you were a player at the moment not preparing yourself mentally, preparing your family, your friends for the possibility to move.”

Round 11 fixture: Where it stands

Friday, May 28

Bulldogs v Demons at Marvel Stadium — No fans, potentially postponed

Saturday, May 29

Magpies v Cats at MCG — No fans

Lions v Giants at Gabba — Not impacted at this point

Saints v Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium — No fans

Suns v Hawks at TIO Stadium — Will be relocated to Gold Coast or postponed

Eagles v Bombers — Not impacted at this point. Bombers are in Perth

Sunday, May 30

Tigers v Crows — Likely to be relocated to Giants Stadium, may be moved to Friday night

Swans v Blues — Not impacted at this point. Blues are in Sydney

Power v Dockers — Not impacted at this point.

— with NCA NewsWire and foxsports.com.au

Originally published as Worst fears confirmed: What Vic lockdown means for AFL