AFL to weigh up crowd capacity options as players start getting COVID tested again
AFL players will undergo COVID-19 testing from next week as clubs push the league to increase crowd capacity when the season begins.
AFL
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AFL players face a return to COVID-19 testing next week as the league waits for the Government’s advice on capacity crowds.
The game’s stars in Victoria and Western Australia have agreed to undergo testing next week in response to the latest hotel quarantine outbreaks in Melbourne and Perth.
Club and league officials are hopeful any community transmission will be quickly contained amid a push to increase crowd capacity at the MCG, Marvel Stadium and GMHBA Stadium to 75 per cent early in the season.
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The Herald Sun understands a 50 per cent capacity is a more realistic target for the blockbuster season-opener between Carlton and Richmond on March 18 at the MCG.
A 50 per cent cap would allow 50,000 fans to attend the Round 1 clash at the MCG, while a 75 per cent call would lift the number to 75,000.
In 2019, 85,016 people watched the Tigers defeat Carlton by 33 points but there was eerie silence in empty stands for last year’s season-opener.
The AFL on Friday said it was not yet locked in to any crowd capacity figure despite the push for clarity.
A league spokesperson said it would be guided by the State Government and health officials.
A call will be made closer to Round 1 after revamping the pre-season competition to help reduce interstate travel before the regular season.
Players will undergo swab testing next week for the first time since the start of pre-season training.
They submitted themselves to tests twice a week and played in interstate hubs for up to four months to help save the 2020 season in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
Talks are ongoing about whether players will have to be tested regularly in season.
While awaiting advice on crowd capacity, the MCG remains unsure if crowd zones will need to be in place for matches at the ground.
The venue was segregated into five zones for the Boxing Day Test and BBL matches over the summer.
Staggered entry times for fans could be among other COVID protocols considered for the AFL season, pending crowd capacity, and all games would be fully ticketed.
Footy could be members only
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Victorian clubs and venues fear only members will be able to gain access to most AFL games this year unless grounds are able to raise capacity to 75 per cent early in the season.
The AFL is adamant it will be guided by health advice from the Victorian government over crowd capacities for major sport, which is currently at 50 per cent in Melbourne.
South Australia and New South Wales have this week increased crowd capacities to 75 per cent, but the first Victorian community transmission in a month puts local hopes on hold.
Carlton and Richmond will split the gate takings from a Round 1 season opener that would normally see them bring home $1 million in combined profit from that game alone.
But the difference between playing with only 50 per cent capacity and 75 per cent capacity is significant.
If only 50,000 fans are allowed for marquee games at the MCG, 23,000 of those tickets will go to MCC and AFL members, even when those groups are only being handed half their normal capacity.
Around 2000 corporates would also be allowed into areas that generate lucrative revenue for the competition.
That would leave around 20,000 club members, who have reserved seats, for the home team, with as few as 5000 away club members having the chance to purchase reserved seats.
It is increasingly likely all Melbourne venues will have to be fully ticketed for contact tracing purposes with general admission walk-up fans not possible in 2021.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will liaise with the state government in the weeks leading into the season and is expected to push for three-quarter capacity if the current community transmission can be restricted.
The AFL runs Marvel Stadium, and will hope the MCC’s direct experience with a COVID-positive patron at the Boxing Day Test gives the state government comfort it can allow 75 per cent of patrons.
During what amounted to a test case, it was discovered 10 days later that a COVID-positive person had visited a day of the Boxing Day test.
The MCC was able to get the list of 8000 people who had been in the area to Victorian health authorities within 10 minutes, with no further spread.
Increasing Melbourne venue capacities to 75 per cent would pose more of a risk for queues into arenas and around food and beverage outlets than in the stands, where gaps could still be put in place between groups of friends and family.
Carlton on Thursday postponed its best-and-fairest this weekend because of the COVID case and will instead host an alternate night in coming weeks.
Perth’s five-day lockdown ends at 6pm on Friday night with no further cases in recent days giving West Australian clubs optimism they can resume training fully next week.
The league will assess those WA COVID figures in coming days, and would have been prepared to limit training to all 18 clubs next week in a bid for equality.
But the hope is West Coast and Fremantle players will be able to return to normal training after being limited to one hour of exercise with a single teammate per day during the lockdown.
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AFL clubs have been told they face training restrictions if the league’s two Perth teams remain in lockdown.
The league told club executives on Tuesday that allowing 16 clubs to train freely while West Coast and Fremantle were shut down by WA’s COVID-19 restrictions could compromise the competition.
The Western Australian government’s approach to its lockdown over the next 48 hours could reshape the 2021 pre-season.
If the state stays clear of further COVID-19 cases in the community the Eagles and Dockers are expected to ask for permission to resume group training at 6pm on Friday.
But the league told clubs that competition-wide training restrictions could be implemented if the WA lockdown continues beyond this week.
It has become clear that league officials are bracing themselves for a second season significantly impacted by Covid, with league officials hoping that the lessons they have learned from getting the 2020 season played despite an early season shutdown after the outbreak of the world wide pandemic will prove valuable.
The postponement of West Coast and Fremantle’s round two fixtures originally scheduled for Adelaide next week.
Clearly one of the major lessons learned has been to make sure they stay onside with state governments as much as possible.
There were moments of tension between the AFL and the hard-line Mark McGowan Government in 2020 as the AFL sought to get a grand final venue and establish hubs around the country including in WA.
Both West Coast and Fremantle were at pains to stress on Monday that their players would adhere immediately to Government guidelines on the lockdown and would also be guided by the government on how and when they could resume training.
AFLW head of football Nicole Livingston did not rule out playing an AFLW derby as soon as this weekend if WA emerged from lockdown but other AFL sources stressed any and all developments “would be led” by government.
Even if WA emerges from lockdown on Friday there still may be hoops for the WA clubs to jump through before they can resume full training.
As of Tuesday football sources were still unsure whether WA would come out of lockdown in stages.
Could WA lockdown impact start of AFL season?
The AFL remains optimistic the regular season will kick-off as planned on March 18 despite the positive COVID-19 case in Western Australia.
On Monday, the league was forced to postpone two Round 2 AFLW matches between Adelaide – Fremantle and GWS Giants – West Coast due to the single case in the west.
After flying out of Perth, the Crows were required to isolate for two weeks in South Australia, while the GWS Giants are in lockdown in New South Wales until Friday evening in line with the Perth restrictions on the Eagles and Dockers.
Neither the Crows or Giants are allowed out to exercise.
The situation threatened to throw an unexpected curve ball into the league’s AFL fixture plans less than five weeks out from the AAMI Community Series.
But confirmation on Monday there had been no new cases of COVID-19 in WA buoyed hopes the state would get any outbreak under control and not significantly impact the AFL season.
The league is closely monitoring the situation in the west and could yet be forced to temporarily relocate West Coast and Fremantle if community transmission in Perth soared over the next month.
There are contingency plans in the event interstate hubs will be required for a second straight season.
But the AFL is looking to start the season on time with clubs hopeful crowds will be capped at 50 per cent capacity for the opening round games in Melbourne.
Clubs remained intent on preparing for the season as normal despite the exercise restrictions imposed on West Coast and Fremantle players in line with the community rules this week.
As the Herald Sun reported on Sunday night, the Eagles and Dockers are only permitted to train for one hour and only with one other teammate per day until Friday evening.
In a statement on Monday Eagles’ chief executive Trevor Nisbett said the club was “still not sure” what it meant for the men’s and women’s team but was adamant it would “abide by the Government’s lockdown rules”.
Fremantle is scheduled to travel to Melbourne to take on the Demons in Round 1 at the MCG, while the Eagles host Gold Coast at Optus Stadium.
The league already cut the number of official pre-season games from two to one to limit the amount of interstate travel in the lead-in to Round 1.
There will also be one unofficial scratch match for each club before the March 4-8 pre-season series.
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