GFL Grand Final location still undecided as deadline for submissions passes
The venue for the GFL decider is still up in the air and the boss of GMHBA Stadium opens up on what could hold the stadium back from hosting the showpiece game.
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GMHBA Stadium will “always be keen” on hosting the GFL grand final but Kardinia Park Stadium Trust chief executive Gerard Griffin admits “life gets a little bit easier” to stage the showpiece decider once the ground’s redevelopment is finalised.
A venue for the local footy’s biggest event is yet to be locked in as it looks increasingly likely it will be moved away from GMHBA Stadium for the first time since 1998.
Submissions from clubs hoping to stage finals this year closed last week and while the trust didn’t formally apply, Griffin said there had been conversations with AFL Barwon.
AFL Barwon chairman Craig Keating stopped short of ruling out GMHBA Stadium for GFL finals last week but acknowledged it was unlikely they would be played at Kardinia Park.
With the northern end still under construction and the Geelong Cats using their changerooms, there are limited spaces at the venue for multiple teams, which causes headaches when the senior, reserves and under-18 grand finals are generally all staged on the same day.
“(We are) happy to have a chat every year (with AFL Barwon), life gets a little bit easier once we get the stage 5 redevelopment out of our life and we have more things at our disposal and the most obvious one of those things is changerooms,” Griffin said.
“The trust will always be keen on hosting GFL finals and the grand final as long as it works for both parties.
“We haven’t formally applied but we have a couple of annual conversations every year and I leave (AFL Barwon) to go away and figure our if that fits under their requirements.”
Griffin said the ground would be open to staging a GFL grand final on any day – such as a Friday night or Sunday – to ease the crunch of local football deciders in September.
Scheduling of grand finals has become a headache locally given the BFL and GDFL both traditionally play their deciders on Saturday afternoons during September and each league would prefer clear air.
“We’d entertain anything and everything that might be possible and it is more (AFL Barwon’s) needs than our needs,” he said.
“The one thing we have to work around in Septembers, whether that is this year or coming years, is the Cats men’s program … they have a very good strike rate of having men’s programs going deep into September so you have to factor that in.”
AFL BARWON UNDECIDED ON GFL GF AS DEADLINE PASSES
The GFL decider is unlikely to return to GMHBA Stadium this year as the deadline passes for submissions to host local footy’s showpiece event.
For the first time in more than two decades, the GFL grand final was due to be played away from Kardinia Park last year, when it was announced the game would move to West Oval.
The finals series was eventually cancelled due to Covid.
Submissions were due to be sent to AFL Barwon to host the game and other finals on Friday and AFL Barwon chairman Craig Keating said he hoped to lock in a venue in “the next one-to-two weeks”.
Because of GMHBA Stadium’s stage 5 redevelopment, it was expected the decider would be played away from the ground again in 2022 but Kardinia Park Trust boss Gerard Griffin said last year he was determined to bring the game back in 2023.
All GFL grand finals since 1998 have been played at Kardinia Park.
AFL Barwon Chairman Craig Keating said the commission would work to make a decision as soon as possible.
“There have been a number of expressions of interests, the commission needs to see if the venues meet both netball and football standards,” he said.
“The sooner the better for us, every venue is different and has different hosting abilities for the number of games that need to be played.
“Especially for junior and women’s competitions, we might need a venue that has multiple grounds, and we also want to host both the netball and football at the same location.”
While GMHBA Stadium had not been ruled out as a potential venue for the senior grand final, it is likely the game will be played at a local ground in 2022.
Keating said availability of the ground could be an issue, while the amount of available changerooms is another factor, given clubs used to use the Ford Stand until it was demolished.
“We haven’t ruled it out, but we need to make sure availability is there, because other groups use the ground as well,” Keating said.
“There’s the renovations going on at the moment, also the Cats AFLW side will have their season starting around the same time.
“Also there’s the chance the AFL finals are on and Geelong might need the facilities, so we need to align the needs of the league and make sure we have access to the ground.”
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