A-League: Brisbane Roar open to NSW hub to complete season

Brisbane Roar will support the idea of a NSW hub to complete an A-League season that needs to be finished by August 31.

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Brisbane Roar will support the idea of a NSW hub to complete an A-League season that needs to be finished by August 31.

With four A-League clubs based in NSW, Sydney and Wollongong have been mooted as the locations for a month-long hub to play out the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.

While Football Federation Australia is yet to announce details about how and when the season will be finished, an August return has been reported.

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Brisbane Roar players are supportive of a NSW A-League hub to complete the season. Picture: AAP

Provided coronavirus enforced restrictions are lifted, players would likely return to training in late June or early July to prepare for the restart of a season that was suspended on March 24.

Roar chief executive David Pourre said the club would be willing to base its squad in NSW to ensure the season be played out by the end of August.

“Brisbane Roar would work with the collective to ensure we would finish the season on a high,” Pourre said.

It’s understood the Roar playing group is also supportive of a NSW A-League hub if it meant the 2019-20 campaign could be completed.

Players union Professional Footballers Australia want guarantees from FFA in terms of health and safety, financial implications and “sporting integrity” before backing any plan to finish the season.

“Given how fluid the pieces to this are, there’s a danger in providing a running commentary on how the future might look, but we’ve been transparent with FFA that we need to base our decisions on health, economics and sporting integrity,” PFA chief executive John Didulica said.

Roar visa player Tom Aldred stayed in Australia during the shutdown.

“Within this, there’ll be some aspects that are fundamental and others that need to be balanced. We have been in daily dialogue with player groups and there is a wave of relief that we’ll be in a position to resume training and working.

“Equally, there’s an understanding that we need to get the model for the return of the players right. This is what we are working with FFA on.”

The problem of more than 40 per cent of A-League players being out of contract on May 31 must be resolved in the next three weeks.

A bonus for the Roar is that their four visa players – Tom Aldred, Macaulay Gillesphey, Jay O’Shea and Aaron Amadi-Holloway – have remained in Queensland during the A-League’s suspension.

Roar coach Robbie Fowler and his right-hand man, the club’s technical director Tony Grant, returned to England in late March and will be forced to self-isolate for two weeks when they arrive back in Queensland.