AFL fixture: Queensland snap lockdown, what does it mean for the AFL fixture?
Brisbane is unlikely to return home after its Round 3 clash with Collingwood. Find out how long the Lions will be in Melbourne.
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Winless Brisbane will be stuck in Melbourne until at least Round 4 and sacrifice a million-dollar Gabba bonanza as Queensland’s COVID crisis worsened.
The league was on Monday night hoping to avoid more fixture pain after moving Brisbane’s Gabba clash with Collingwood to Melbourne, flipping it with the Round 22 game between the two clubs.
As revealed by the Herald Sun on Monday the clash will take place at Marvel Stadium, costing the Lions well over $1 million in profit from their much-anticipated clash on Good Friday Eve.
The Lions face at least 16 days in Melbourne without their families after a snap three-day lockdown was called in Greater Brisbane because of four fresh cases of community transmission.
Brisbane players were told by the club on Monday they faced the prospect of remaining in Melbourne until their Round 4 game against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Saturday April 10.
The Adelaide-Gold Coast game will go ahead on Friday at Adelaide Oval after the Suns were able to show their players had not been in Greater Brisbane in the last week.
SA Health on Monday refused to grant exemptions to footballers, so any player, coach or staffer who had been in Greater Brisbane since March 20 could not take part in the Good Friday clash.
But Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans told the Herald Sun on Monday night the players had all been cleared.
The Suns and AFL made a joint decision for the Suns to fly out of the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning to safeguard the Good Friday game.
“We are all clear here and the Gold Coast hasn’t had a community transmission for 11 months so we will see how the situation unfolds. This keeps all our options open to return to Queensland next week or if not, we can still continue the season," Evans said.
The AFL was also seeking clarity on Monday night on NSW health regulations that required anyone in Brisbane since March 20 to quarantine for three days.
The league was on Monday night confident Sydney players who played against the Lions on March 20 at the Gabba would not have to lockdown for three days as it worked through that issue with the NSW State Government.
The Swans have since played Adelaide at the SCG on March 27.
Sydney Swans players and staff who travelled to Brisbane in Round 1 were abiding by NSW Health orders to stay at home as they awaited further instruction.
The AFL, as of Monday night, still expects the Swans will be able to travel to Melbourne to play Richmond on Saturday.
However, it remains unclear whether they will have a compromised preparation.
League and club officials should gain greater clarity on Tuesday, including whether players will be able to train together and if they will have to undergo COVID tests.
Auld said four Brisbane players who flew into Melbourne on Monday — Darcy Gardiner, Connor Ballenden, Marcus Adams and Rhys Mathieson — would be able to join the group after negative COVID tests.
The league will hope by Round 5 the Brisbane cluster has subsided and the Lions can return home to take on Essendon.
But it again highlights that the league will have to navigate its way through the pandemic for the entire season given the slow vaccine rollout.
The Lions will train at Punt Road on Tuesday and are determined to make a fist of their unexpected visit after a charmed run in 2020 during which they rarely left Brisbane.
It came as Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko admitted the players had already pulled out of the Sofitel Hotel driveway before chief executive Greg Swann stopped the bus and explained they were going nowhere.
“The bus came to an almighty halt before we got to the driveway,” Zorko said.
“We thought, ‘He has crashed here, something is going on’.
“But then Swanny jumped on and explained the situation.“I think from us (the new fixture) was a relief because now we have some form of plan and an idea of what is going on.
“It was great to get some solid and factual information and we know we will be hanging around and we can start preparing for the Easter Thursday game.
“It would be great to get home to our families but realistically we are in the game to play footy and we have a game on Thursday night.”
Tickets will go on sale for the Marvel Stadium clash on Tuesday with a current capacity of 43,000 meaning it will not be a lockout.
AFL members will be first in the queue at 10am, followed by Collingwood members at 1pm, before Brisbane members at 10am Wednesday, and then general admission tickets at 1pm Wednesday.
The match is designated as a Collingwood home game.
Auld said the league was likely to increase its level of COVID testing for players after being guided in recent months by the various state government restrictions.
“As the risk increases, so does the level of testing,” he said.
“It is a state-by-state situation when they return to Brisbane and it will depend on the circumstances of teams, but there is every chance we will increase the level of testing.”
COMMENTATORS, FANS ASKED TO LEAVE STADIUM
Friday night’s Brisbane-Geelong match in Geelong proceeded only after the AFL obtained a last-minute exemption for the Lions.
The new footy drama emerged after the positive case of the highly contagious UK variant was detected in Brisbane.
It sparked the Victorian government at 6.45pm to order anyone who has been in Brisbane from March 12 to immediately isolate until they received a negative result.
That decision, less than an hour before the 7.50pm start of the clash at GMHBA Stadium, resulted in fans who had been in Brisbane ordered from the stadium by a government health alert on the scoreboard.
Former Hawthorn and Lions champion Luke Hodge, who was broadcasting for Channel 7, was told to leave the commentary box because he had flown in from Brisbane.
Another Channel 7 commentator, North Melbourne great Wayne Carey, also left the ground because he had been at a function in Brisbane on March 14.
Channel 7 Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin said that as soon as the station became aware of the government health advice via Twitter, it responded and asked Hodge and Carey to exit the stadium.
“They’ll be tested in the morning as per the advice and any citizen in Queensland in the advised time,” Mr Martin said.
“That was done as soon as we were aware and out they went.”
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