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With a historic milestone in front of him and having to abandon his family again, you could forgive Buddy for letting his mind drift. Lance Franklin insists he is finals focused.
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Lance Franklin insists his focus is on taking down the Giants and not his impending 1000-goal milestone as he prepares to bid farewell to family again.
The Swans and Giants found out on Monday night their loved ones can’t join them on their finals campaign, which will end for one of them on Saturday.
It’s the latest setback for the two clubs, which have been disadvantaged more than any other this year, because of Sydney’s Covid-19 crisis.
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But it hasn’t dulled Franklin’s excitement for the finals as he nears his incredible goalkicking feat.
“There’s a lot of talk about it, but for me it’s about winning,” Franklin said.
“My focus is on this final, winning, competing and doing our best to get the win.”
Only the losing team will return from Tasmania to Melbourne to pick up any leftover belongings or tie up any loose ends, with the other remaining on the road while their premiership bid is alive.
All Victorian clubs face the same situation, but the difference is partners and families of players and staff at the NSW clubs served two weeks in hard quarantine in a Brisbane hotel for the right to reunite.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein broke the news to key personnel at the clubs on a video call on Monday night, barely two weeks after their emotional reunion.
It was then relayed to the rest of the travelling party.
They spent six weeks apart before reuniting in Melbourne, after the AFL gave the Swans and Giants about three hours’ notice to flee Sydney in late June.
An AFL spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph they understood the sacrifices players, coaches, staff and umpires, including their partners and families, had made.
“We have worked hard where possible to keep families together, but we know that community safety remains paramount for us all,” the spokesperson said.
“We will continue to work closely with respective governments and health authorities to do everything we can to protect the ongoing health and wellbeing of everyone in the community.”
The NSW clubs will likely fly into Tasmania on Thursday or Friday ahead of their Saturday afternoon elimination final at UTAS Stadium in Launceston.
Swans chief executive Tom Harley said on Tuesday they were planning to stay in Tasmania for “a period of time” if they beat the Giants.
The winner of the Sydney derby final will play the loser of Friday night’s qualifying final between Port Adelaide and Geelong.
A Power loss would mean the semi-final would be played in Adelaide, but a Cats defeat leaves various interstate options.
“One thing I have learned, particularly this year, is you play with the cards you’re dealt and sometimes you’re dealt those cards a couple of hours before you have to act on them,” Harley told SEN.
“I think, in an ideal circumstance, clarity and assurance is good, but we’re also understanding that it may not happen.
“We’ll go to Tassie and expect to stay there for a period of time and we hope to win, then we’d expect to stay there for a bit longer and work out where that next game is.
“But I’m sure we’ll need to be flexible somewhere along the way.”
Neutral venue choice worries Chris Scott
Geelong coach Chris Scott has called on the AFL to host all finals at neutral venues from next week as the Cats prepare to fly from Adelaide to Perth.
Scott confirmed Geelong was scheduled to head to Perth whether it wins or loses Friday night’s qualifying final against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
The Cats will enter hotel quarantine in Geelong from 6pm on Tuesday and have asked the league to fly in to Adelaide on Thursday night to avoid a long wait in the cricket nets pre-game on Friday.
But there remains considerable intrigue about what happens in weeks two and three of the finals and whether teams such as Port Adelaide and Brisbane will be able to play games in front of big home crowds.
Scott said the Cats had embraced the upcoming road trip but made it clear all clubs should be scheduled to play at neutral venues from next week.
“The AFL is working hard to make sure it is as level a playing field as possible and they couldn’t quite deliver that this week,” Scott said on Fox Footy.
“But subsequent to this week I suspect that there will be neutral venues and virtually all teams will be on the road together.”
A win will book the Cats another preliminary final, while a loss would see Geelong take on the winner of the Sydney Swans versus GWS Giants clash in a cut-throat semi-final.
Scott said the club did not expect to have much say in the next venue, even if they lost to Port and qualified for home-ground advantage against the Giants or Swans.
“Our expectation based on what they have told us is we will still go to Perth (if they lose),” Scott said.
“I think more and more it is looking like the idea that teams who earn the home final get to choose (the venue) is not going to be the case.
“I suspect there will be some sort of discussion, there just seems to be other (Covid-19-related) issues that trump the home-ground advantage.”
Scott said the club had requested to travel to Adelaide on Thursday night, giving the players and staff more time to prepare than earlier this season when they travelled on the day of the match.
“We are really strong on our preference to travel on Thursday night and we know there will still be some restrictions when we get to South Australia,” he said.
“We think it would be too oppressive to ask a team to endure for a final what we did last time (waited for hours in the cricket nets practice facility) we went to Adelaide.
“We have got confidence they would deliver that. I’m sure they wouldn’t settle on the venue at Adelaide Oval unless they have worked with the SA health authorities to make sure there was reasonable lead-in to the game.”
Vic clubs could be on the road for entire finals series
— Chris Cavanagh
Victorian and Sydney sides who are heading interstate for finals this weekend are likely to remain on the road for the duration of their campaigns as the prospect of any finals being played in Melbourne is all but ruled out.
The AFL is working with the Tasmanian Government on plans to keep the winners of the two elimination finals in the state beyond this weekend’s matches.
Sydney and Greater Western Sydney are set to face off in Launceston on Saturday, with the Western Bulldogs and Essendon facing off in the same city on Sunday.
Geelong and Melbourne, which are facing separate qualifying finals in Adelaide this weekend, could also remain on the road even if they win a direct path through to a preliminary final.
The AFL currently has a fly-in, fly-out model operating with Tasmania, but keeping teams in the state would provide greater flexibility to travel onwards to Queensland, South Australia or Western Australia with no or less restrictive quarantine protocols for week two matches.
Further finals could also be held in Tasmania in week two.
“Week one of the finals, we’ve fixtured those outside of Victoria,” AFL fixturing boss Travis Auld said on Monday.
“It’s highly likely we’ll keep those teams on the road and fixture week two outside of Victoria. That gives us optionality beyond that.”
The AFL is yet to decide a venue for the Grand Final as it awaits a decision from the Victorian Government on whether the MCG will be able to host the game.
However, Auld said a decision needed to be made soon, with the AFL’s showpiece match on September 25 little more than a month away.
“If you think back from that to prepare ourselves for a prelim final and work back from there, we’ve got less time than it might feel like to make that decision,” Auld said.
“So I’d like to think in the coming days we’d have a view on where the Grand Final will be played.”
The AFL remains in talks with the Victorian, West Australian and South Australian governments and Auld said Queensland was also “there if we need them”.
“We’re in a really good position,” he said.
Auld said the timeslot the Grand Final was played would be determined by which venue was chosen.
“That will be one of the questions that come up if we have a Grand Final outside of Victoria – does it then present an opportunity for a different start time?,” he said.
Crowds of 15,000 supporters in Adelaide and 10,000 fans in Launceston will be allowed to attend the first week of finals this weekend.
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