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Gillon McLachlan has hit back at Gold Coast president Tony Cochrane’s latest AFL Grand Final claims, confirming the league has no plans move the game.
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Gillon McLachlan says the AFL has ten weeks to make a decision on the Grand Final despite Gold Coast president Tony Cochrane’s suggestion of a night game at Optus Stadium.
The league and Victorian state government are adamant the year’s biggest contest will still be played at the MCG despite the lingering Covid outbreak.
Despite suggestions the league might have only weeks to make a decision, AFL CEO McLachlan again made clear there was no hurry to switch the game.
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“Tony has got lots to say, we love Tony. But we have got a contract with the MCG,” he told 3AW.
“I am not being unrealistic. We are weeks away and until the point is where we can’t play it, it’s where it will be and the rest is speculating.
“As last year showed if we couldn’t play there with a decent crowd we would review it but it’s not in our contemplation at the moment.
“I am sure we can have a sensible discussion with the Victorian government but it’s just a hypothetical. We have six weeks before the finals start and four weeks of finals, so (a decision) is ten weeks away theoretically.”
McLachlan said he was as confident as he had been this year that the league would complete the season.
“No, I haven’t thought (we wouldn’t get through it). I have thought at times this is getting very tricky and tight and difficult but I have never thought we are not going to get through it, and we will. The commitment for our supporters is to get it done. That’s what is going to happen. I am very confident of that.”
Cochrane’s radical Grand Final proposal
The man who brought the Grand Final to Queensland says the AFL should consider a Perth Grand Final beamed into Victoria at 8pm this year.
Gold Coast president Tony Cochrane says the WA and South Australian state governments should already be formulating proposals to secure the Grand Final at Optus Stadium or the Gabba.
As former Coronavirus cabinet member Eddie McGuire pushed the prospect of a month-long finals hub in Perth, Cochrane said the league should also consider the early adoption of vaccination passports in the AFL.
He said with 1 million Pfizer shots arriving each week it was not too early for the league to consider proof of double vaccination to boost the attendance at the Grand Final.
The league is still a month away from having to consider finals venues with NSW, SA and Victoria in lockdown.
Moving the finals series to Perth would involve all eight teams having to quarantine over the pre-finals bye but then able to move around the community and play in front of 60,000 fans.
But regardless Cochrane, who helped run the successful 2020 Queensland Grand Final bid, said a 6pm Perth start time beamed into Melbourne and Sydney at 8pm would be the perfect timeslot.
“I don’t have any privileged information but with eight or so weeks to go it is starting to look extremely unlikely we will have the Grand Final take place at the MCG again this year,” he told News Corp.
“I don’t think that’s an over-exaggeration or an alarmist comment. We are dealing with reality so I hope the AFL are keeping their options open. I would like to see the AFL Grand Final moved around every few years anyway to give this great Australian game a great Australian chance in every state. I hope Adelaide and Perth are well and truly on the ball and keeping their options open.
“I think WA has competition. South Australia would be dead keep. Adelaide Oval only opened seven years ago and I opened it with the Rolling Stones and it’s a superb venue, so they should be in it, boots and all. If I was the South Australian or WA government I would be putting together my own little war cabinet.
“Victoria is heading toward half a year of total lockdowns and that’s a shocking position to be in and you need to be smart enough to work out you need strong alternatives.
“We need to start becoming more liberal around letting supporters attend games and one way the AFL and other sports can play a role is start declaring that you can come across the border to watch games if you can prove you are fully vaccinated.”
Cochrane said it was obvious the AFL needed to have a yearly Grand Final in a night timeslot.
“Of course you have got to have it at night. We are like every other sport in the world. I have driven Gill (McLachlan) nuts and the AFL Commission nuts.
“We need eyeballs which create media interest and media rights are the single biggest income line for any sport in the world. And you get more at night.
“It’s not a sweeping statement, we proved it conclusively last year by running it at night. You could start the game at 6pm (in Perth) and with a two-hour time difference you are in great shape.”
Covid isolation and injuries hit hard for Giants
The Giants are sweating on the fitness of super-veteran Shane Mumford amid a ruck crisis that could leave them vulnerable against finals rival Essendon on Sunday night.
The club’s medical staff continue to manage Mumford (back) in what will be his final AFL season, but he is the last ruckman standing.
Kieren Briggs is among the four Giants who are isolating and can’t play after attending a Covid-19 exposure site, Matt Flynn will undergo a left shoulder reconstruction and Braydon Preuss (pectoral) is still recovering.
Even key defender Lachie Keeffe (knee), who is ruck height, is out for the season, so coach Leon Cameron is aware how important Mumford, 35, is again.
Lachie Whitfield (concussion) is a confirmed starter, but Cameron said Josh Kelly (ankle) remained “touch and go”.
The eighth-year coach was supportive of the AFL’s decision to push on with the season rather than bringing forward the pre-finals bye.
“Shane ran around today (at main training) and was pretty good, but we’ll just assess,” Cameron said.
“Clearly, if he’s right to go, we’ll play him but if he’s not, we’ll have to have some makeshift ruck duties; using maybe a Finlayson, Sproule, Riccardi – that type – to go in and combat their rucks, in Draper and Wright.
“We’ll see how the dust settles in the next 24 hours, but Shane got through training. He’s not perfect but we always know what we’re dealing with.”
Cameron’s family were among more than 100 arrivals in Brisbane on Thursday afternoon on a charter flight from Sydney, ahead of them spending a fortnight of quarantine in a transition hub.
Preuss and Bobby Hill, who returned to Sydney on Monday to be with his pregnant partner Georgia, were also part of the group.
As News Corp revealed on Wednesday, they won’t be able to swim in the pool, use the gym or mix with other hub-goers outside of three meal times during the day.
The families and partners can only walk around the facility with people they are rooming with on the same hotel level.
It’s understood they will spend the first 48 hours in hard lockdown but extra space is available for after that period, for work and school reasons and kids to play.
“The AFL and Queensland Government have done a wonderful job. It’s such a huge challenge and huge thing to organise, with so much going on – it’s not just us and the Swans,” Cameron said.
“They fly in today and quarantine for 14 days, but no doubt when that comes to fruition … it’s going to be a huge boost.
“That’s only human for both sides and we’ve been on the road for four-and-a-half weeks.
“We’re disappointed we lost a couple of close games, but our spirits are high, we know we’re still right in this season … and we’re putting all our energy into that Essendon game on Sunday night.”
Covid latest: Players take stand on hectic fixture
The AFL’s playing cohort has thrown its full support behind the league’s decision to continue the season in the face of the country’s Covid-19 crisis.
AFL Players’ Association boss Paul Marsh said it was the right call to push on with the season after speaking with club captains to seek their feedback during a series of phone hook-ups on Wednesday.
The green light from the players ensures the season will go ahead despite another day of drama in which Greater Western Sydney and Sydney Swans players were told their families will have to quarantine under stricter conditions — confined in Brisbane hotel rooms for 14 days before reuniting with their partners.
News Corp understands the current protocols mean the players’ partners and children will only be allowed to leave their hotel rooms for meals and cannot use the pool or gym and will not be able to gather with others.
The development came as Essendon’s Cian McBride became the latest player to enter a 14-day isolation after attending the Wallabies’ game at AAMI Park last Tuesday, joining stars Rowan Marshall (St Kilda), Toby Greene (GWS Giants), Callum Mills (Sydney Swans) and teammate Andrew McGrath in isolation.
The border closures and quarantine rulings have prompted calls to pause the season or bring forward the pre-finals bye but Marsh said the players wanted the show to go on.
“I’ve spoken to nearly all the captains today just to check-in with how everyone is going and there is a real commitment there to push on,” Marsh said.
“While it is difficult and there are some teams at the moment doing some heavy lifting to keep the competition going they are all committed to doing so.
“There has been some discussion around pausing the season and picking it back up. Is that something actually something that should be considered?
“But once you start to get into the reasons why (such as decreasing fitness), that doesn’t actually make sense for the game or the players for a variety of reasons.
“The players have got their heads around that.
“While you could pause and hope things get better, there is also the possibility that things get worse, so while we can keep going there is a commitment to keep going.”
The AFL finalised the Round 19 fixture on the run on Wednesday locking in the Geelong Richmond grand final rematch at 3.20pm on Sunday at the MCG, while Essendon and GWS Giants will face-off at Metricon Stadium in the second-game of a double-header there on Sunday from 6.10pm.
Essendon will continue to base itself at Noosa with re-signed goal kicker Jake Stringer confirming he wanted the season to continue away from home.
“We will punch it out and we know that all of Melbourne is doing it tough and the rest, but hopefully we can finish it (the season) off,” Stringer said.
However, Marsh said there would inevitably be some players who will have to make the tough call to return home for family or personal reasons.
GWS Giants’ forward Bobby Hill departed the Giants’ setup to be with his pregnant partner.
Marsh said players in that position deserved the industry’s support.
“By and large we have had that over the last two years and there was the issue with the two St Kilda players (Tim Membrey and Seb Ross) but I think that (criticism) was an outlier,” he said.
“Our players are human beings and they are not machines and there are personal circumstances which you would like to think everyone would actually support.
“There will be more of it and I don’t have any doubt there will be more players who because of what is being requires here, they are not going to be able to see it through and we need to support that.”
It remains to be seen whether more Victorian clubs will be sent north to Queensland to hub to finish off the regular season.
The league remains determined to host the Grand Final at the MCG but any restrictions which cap the crowd at less than 40,000 could force a move to host the decider interstate.
The Giants and Swans players are hopeful the restrictions may ease on their families in the Brisbane hotel.
Marsh said the quarantine regulations “were still a bit of a moving feast” with those Sydney families.
“We are hoping for some further improvements there but what is important is being able to get the families to reunite with the players and there has been a lot of work that has gone into that,” he said.
“We are still working through some of the detail around that and the players that were caught out at exposure sites last week we are trying to work through getting some better options for them just so they can actually keep training and be able to play when they get out of quarantine.”
Dunkley to slam dunk home quarantine
By Rebecca Williams
Western Bulldogs star Josh Dunkley admits he was “pretty sad” to learn he would be forced into home isolation the day after his comeback from injury but he is already plotting a Round 20 return straight out of quarantine.
The midfielder said he was shocked to learn he had visited a Tier 1 exposure site at a cafe in Kew last week, forcing him into 14-day isolation backdated to last Wednesday.
Dunkley’s home quarantine means he will be sidelined for Saturday night’s top-of-the-table showdown against Melbourne at the MCG.
It comes after Dunkley just made his return to the Bulldogs line-up last Saturday, 12 weeks after undergoing a shoulder reconstruction.
While he said the situation was “hard”, Dunkley said he was trying to take advantage of a well-kitted out home gym set-up to return “fitter and stronger”.
“It’s obviously a difficult situation to be in but I think I have been dealing with it pretty well so far,” Dunkley said.
“Initially I was pretty sad. To come back after being out for 12 weeks or whatever it was and play my first game, I thought I was OK.
“Then to think about your continuity and stuff like that … for the shoulder to heal and stuff like that, it is important to continue to get that match fitness stuff in.
“So to be out of the team this week and not be able to play is pretty sad and pretty hard for me but I think I have tried to turn it into a positive and use the set-up that I’ve got and hopefully come back on the other side fitter and stronger.”
Dunkley had considered himself vigilant in the current Covid climate but acknowledged his misfortune over ducking out for simple eggs and a coffee.
“I did not expect it to happen,” Dunkley said.
“Obviously players, we are always keeping an eye out for certain things but there had not been any Covid in Kew where I live around this area for quite a while, I don’t think there has been any at all.
“So to be exposed to a Tier 1 exposure site, it shocked me initially when I first saw it I was like ‘Wow’.
“But then to get the text message from the government and say you’ve got to isolate for 14 days was crazy and something I suppose I’ll always remember.”
Dunkley said he was trying to “mirror” the Bulldogs training program as much as he could at home and plans to be ready to put his hand up for a return at training next Thursday.
“I think I am out of quarantine next Wednesday so I’ll hopefully be back to training on the Thursday,” Dunkley said.
“We’ve got a main session in the lead-up to Adelaide, or that could change, you never know, but back next Thursday and will be putting my hand up for selection hopefully after that.”
“I have got a nice little home gym that that got done recently so I’m pretty fortunate to have that kind of set-up.
“I’ve got a treadmill that the club organised for me, I’ve got a wattbike that I’ve had for quite a while. I’ve also a got a swimming pool, one that you swim against the jets and a spa, and a little basketball court down the back, too.
“I’m just trying to use that to me advantage and come out the other side well.”
BITTER BLOW: THE STRICT QUARANTINE RULES FOR AFL FAMILIES
Strict new quarantine conditions have been imposed on family members of Sydney and Greater Western Sydney players just days before they are due to fly into a Queensland hub.
In a bitter blow to the group of about 100, they were told on Tuesday night they would not be able to swim in the pool, use a gym or mix with other partners and families outside meal times while in their 14-day Queensland quarantine.
Families can leave their rooms to eat three times a day in the nominated dining areas and can only walk around the facility with the people they are rooming with.
News Corp revealed on Tuesday the government had given the green light to the hub, ending weeks of negotiations between them, the AFL and the two Sydney clubs.
The Sydney and Greater Western Sydney players have been living away from home for five weeks, since being evacuated from a Sydney Covid-19 lockdown.
The family group is expected to fly out of Sydney on Thursday afternoon.
But they were told on Tuesday night that the Queensland Government had tightened restrictions on their Brisbane transition hub.
More clarity on the living conditions is expected before they board a charter flight on Thursday.
Giants forward Bobby Hill, who returned to Sydney on Monday to be with his pregnant partner, Georgia, will enter the transition hub.
She is due to give birth to their first child in December.
Hill can rejoin the Greater Western Sydney camp but only after serving two weeks of quarantine in the hub, meaning he will miss at least the next two games.
Braydon Preuss will also be part of the group as he nears a return from a pectoral tear, but fellow ruckman Matt Flynn will return to Sydney for a likely shoulder reconstruction.
Giants chief executive Dave Matthews said he was “grateful” for the work the AFL and the Queensland Government put in to make this happen.
“Our players and staff have spent four weeks on the road and they’re all looking forward to the opportunity to be reunited with their loved ones in a couple of weeks,” Matthews said.
All interested parties have entered a two-day pre-quarantine period before departing on Thursday.
They won’t be able to leave their home before then, other than to undergo Covid-19 testing.
There will be a further two-week quarantine period once the families and partners arrive in Brisbane, extending what has already been a month apart from each other.
They will then be able to join the Swans and Giants in their Queensland accommodation.
The AFL has employed world-leading healthcare services provider Aspen Medical to oversee the hub and ensure all risks are mitigated.
It’s a major victory for the two Sydney clubs, which have been more disadvantaged than anyone this season, including relocating a second time from Victoria to Queensland last week.
The AFL’s executive general manager of clubs and broadcasting, Travis Auld, travelled to Brisbane last Thursday and has put in a power of work in recent days to get the deal across the line.
Auld led negotiations and has worked feverishly to tick off all government requirements in what was an incredibly intricate submission.
The AFL, including chief executive Gillon McLachlan, the two clubs and their families and partners have kept in regular touch in recent weeks to ensure this resolution was reached.
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