AFL Covid: Four clubs granted permission as Victorian sports minister flags footy’s return to Melbourne
Geelong is banking on special Covid-19 exemptions for country Victoria opening the door for some fans to return to next week’s Friday night clash against the Western Bulldogs.
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Geelong believes the crowd for next week’s Friday night clash against the Western Bulldogs will be capped at 50 per cent or lower as Covid-19 restrictions continue to wreak havoc with club finances.
Cats chief executive Brian Cook told the Herald Sun the club was hoping special exemptions for country Victoria could allow it to get fans back to GMHBA by Round 14.
“The one thing I know is the AFL are talking to the state government and are discussing treating Geelong differently than stadiums in Melbourne,” Cook said.
“What that means, we are not sure.
“The first thing is whether we play a game here in Geelong and we are hoping that will happen and the second thing is what the crowd will be. And it could range between zero (fans) and 50 per cent.”
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Cook said it would be near-on impossible to ban Melbourne fans who lived in or close to Covid-19 hot spots as a way of maximising a Geelong crowd.
“My gut reaction is it would be difficult. We will wait and see how the AFL negotiates and debates with the (state government),” he said.
Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula on Tuesday morning said he expected games would return to Victoria “sooner rather than later”.
“Once restrictions are eased, then we will go back into the public events framework,” Pakula said.
“The AFL will make some decisions about what it is they want, and that will be assessed by the public health team in the same way that it was before the outbreak.”
The Cats on Tuesday finally gained clearance to take on Port Adelaide as part of a strictly monitored hit-run mission on Thursday night.
It is understood the South Australian government would allow the Cats to fly back to Geelong at 11.30pm local time — half an hour after the usual 11am cut-off — in a 12-hour dash over the border.
The Cats will fly out at 11am on Thursday, with Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan, Cam Guthrie, Mark O’Connor and Mark Blicavs all likely to be on that flight after training well on Tuesday.
The Cats then return to Geelong to take on the Dogs in Round 14 in what shapes as a blockbuster clash.
Geelong captain Selwood said there would be no excuses for his group in a match that holds top-four ramifications after a similar mission in Round 7 against Sydney.
“We flew out to Sydney early in the year and played on the same day and played well for long periods of that game so that is just the path that we have to get right,” he said.
“There’s not too much we can control except doing the right thing … Collingwood obviously did it last week and did it pretty well coming away with the four points.
“We were OK with (the lockdown) from the get go. We understand we have been under AFL rules and regulations for a long period of time now so it didn’t make too much of a difference to our guys.”
Selwood has chosen to stay at home but senior players including Isaac Smith and Tom Hawkins have moved into hotels to allow their families freedom during the week.
Clubs given green light, plans for Victoria’s footy return
St Kilda’s lucrative trip to Cairns has been greenlit by the AFL in a move that will hand the club nearly $800,000 but end hopes stars Seb Ross and Tim Membrey could take on Adelaide.
After days of negotiations with a quartet of state governments the league finally ` Round 13 fixture on Tuesday.
St Kilda will fly into Queensland from Sydney on Friday and stay in strict hotel quarantine before taking on Adelaide in a game it sold to far north Queensland to help service $13.8 million of club debt.
The chances of Ross and Membrey rejoining the squad after leaving on Saturday to attend to family issues was always distant but if the game was relocated to Sydney there were slim hopes.
Membrey played a key role after being thrown behind the ball against Sydney, with Max King battling a back injury after back spasms before and during the game.
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The 5-7 Saints will be desperate to keep their season alive at Cazalys Stadium against the improving Adelaide.
The club will be thrilled it can fulfil its commitments to the state after Melbourne was forced to forgo $800,000 after its game in Alice Springs was relocated to Giants Stadium.
In a series of development which again show the league’s pull with state governments;
-Geelonghas been given permission to fly out after the 11pm airport curfew on a chartered flight on Thursday night.
The Cats will still need to arrive in Adelaide early for their Thursday night 7.10pm (local time) game and wait in the Adelaide Oval indoor cricket nets before receiving negative Covid tests.
-North Melbournehas been granted permission to fly to Hobart to take on Greater Western Sydney on Sunday under strict fly-in, fly-out provisions.
As revealed by the Herald Sun, the Roos hope to relocate their round 14 game against Brisbane from Marvel Stadium to Blundstone Arena and play a trio of consecutive games in the state against the Giants, Lions and Gold Coast.
-Hawthorn has permission to fly into Sydney for its Friday night contest against Sydney at the SCG.
AFL fixturing boss Travis Auld said the league was thankful to be able to pull off the reconfigured fixture.
“On behalf of the AFL I would like to thank all respective State Governments, each Club, players, the AFLPA, umpires, broadcast partners, venues and all football fans for their continued patience and understanding as we all continue to navigate through the pandemic,” Mr Auld said.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation in the community with the fixture, at this stage, remaining a week-to-week proposition.
“We thank everyone in the game for their patience and understanding as we worked through finalising arrangements for Round 13.”
Plans made for footy’s return to Victoria
Geelong is still hopeful of drawing a crowd for next Friday night’s GMHBA Stadium clash against the Western Bulldogs.
It comes as the Victorian State Government admitted crowds would be unlikely to return to 85 per cent capacity and 100 per cent capacity soon.
Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula on Tuesday morning said he expected the games would continue in Victoria “sooner rather than later”.
“Once restrictions are eased, then we will go back into the public events framework,” Mr Pakula said.
“The AFL will make some decisions about what it is they want, and that will be assessed by the public health team in the same way that it was before the outbreak.”
But Mr Pakula warned it was unlikely for the previous crowd capacity of 85 per cent to return immediately.
“All going well with the epidemiology and infection rates, we’ll see crowds gradually increase,” he said.
Mr Pakula wouldn’t provide any reassurance that lockdown would end on Friday as originally planned, despite Victoria recording “encouraging” case numbers on Monday and Tuesday.
“I’m not going to pre-empt or give any clues about what the thinking of public health is. It’s a day by day proposition,” he said.
“We’ll continue to assess that between now and when the decision point is, which will be on Wednesday or Thursday.”
CATS PUSH TO SAVE FAMILY LIFE IN QUARANTINE HOTEL TWIST
Star Cat Tom Hawkins and a group of senior teammates will enter their own version of hotel quarantine on Tuesday night to meet strict South Australia Covid-19 rules ahead of Thursday’s clash against Port Adelaide.
The Cats have been forced into 60 hours of quarantine from 5pm on Monday but many players will spend Tuesday and Wednesday in hotels so their families can leave their own homes.
As revealed by the News Corp Australia on Monday, Geelong players were told on Sunday their kids could not go to school or partners work if they remained in the same household.
Hawkins said he would move out of home ahead of a chartered flight to Adelaide on Thursday given wife Emma was working during the week.
Hawkins said he would enter quarantine in the hotel on Tuesday after training.
“I am going to go in after training tomorrow, that suits my family situation best with my wife Emma and the kids. Emma is working tomorrow and the kids are at daycare, so that’s the way I am going to track into the game with quarantine,” he told Fox Sports.
“It looks very different to previous preparations that we have faced going interstate. But that’s OK, we look forward to taking on the challenge of doing it as best we can.”
Despite the difficult build up, Geelong could be bolstered on the field by the return of star players Patrick Dangerfield (syndesmosis), Cam Guthrie (shoulder), Mitch Duncan (concussion), Mark Blicavs (calf) and Mark O’Connor (hamstring).
The Cats would not be reluctant to make five changes given the calibre of those players.
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