How the revised AFL Capricornia season will look

Swans coach Mark Wallin: ‘It’s the best result we could possibly have hoped for.’

GAME ON: AFL Capricornia has released its proposed draw for the 2020 season. It will feature 10 rounds and a three-week finals series. Picture: File

AFL: Yeppoon Swans coach Mark Wallin was excited and grateful when AFL Capricornia released its proposed draw for the 2020 season late last night.

The revised competition will kick off on July 11 and feature 10 rounds and a three-week finals series, pending a green light from the Queensland Government.

That format means all six A-grade men’s teams – Yeppoon, Rockhampton Panthers, Glenmore Bulls, Rockhampton Brothers, BITS Saints and Gladstone Suns – will feature in the finals.

The top two teams will not get a second bite of the cherry, as is the case in a regular season, but will have home ground advantage in the second week of the playoffs.

Wallin said he was just looking forward to getting his side back on the park.

“I think it’s going to be fantastic. It’s the best result we could possibly have hoped for.

“It’s looks like, provided we don’t have any more setbacks, that will be the schedule we will follow this year.

“I was always hopeful that we would play this season in some format and, fingers crossed, it will happen.

All six teams in the AFL Capricornia A-grade men’s competition will feature in the finals series of the revised 2020 season. Picture: File.

“It’s like everything in life; you don’t realise what you’ve got until it’s taken away from you.”

The AFL season was set to start on March 28 but was suspended in response to COVID-19, and Wallin said there could be a positive from the hiatus.

“If there was one benefit for us and probably other clubs as well it was in regards to injured players who might not have made round one.

“Every club should come back with a full list and be raring to go now so we should see some good footy.”

The Swans have won five straight flags and are on the cusp of creating national history.

They are 11 victories shy of claiming the record of the most consecutive wins in AFL history.

The mantle is held by South Australian team Heathfield-Aldgate, which had 88 straight wins in the 1970s.

The revised draw means they will have enough games to do it this year.

Yeppoon coach Mark Wallin (right) with skipper Matt Wallin after the Swans retained the Central Queensland Cup.

Wallin said he would start structuring up a training program and talk it through with his players in the next week.

“Most of them have been training pretty well and doing their own thing anyway,” he said.

“On Facebook, we set a COVID running challenge to see how many k’s we could accumulate through last month.

“The goal was 1000km collectively and we ended up getting 1660km so they’ve done plenty of road k’s.

“Training will be a little difficult and a little different to what we’re used to, given there will be some restrictions in place.

“These boys have gone through a huge pre-season already; they’ve played two games (the CQ Challenge Cup and a trial against Rockhampton Brothers) and then had no footy for a couple of months.

“It’s about finding a way of motivating them and getting them up and running again now - but that shouldn’t be hard with my group.”

KEY DATES IN AFL CAPRICORNIA COMPETITION

Season kick-off: July 11

Semi-finals: September 19

Pre-finals: September 26

Grand final: October 3