Frankston makes submission to host AFL matches when season resumes
Frankston has thrown its hat in the ring to host AFL matches when the season resumes — most likely with clubs based in a series of quarantine hubs, including one just down the road.
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Frankston has put its hand up to host AFL matches as the league considers housing clubs down the road on the Mornington Peninsula.
The VFL club wrote to AFL talent pathways and state leagues boss Tristan Salter last month, who passed the submission on to football boss Steve Hocking’s department.
“We put our hand up because we’re one of the grounds without cricket that’s a football ground 12 months of the year,” Dolphins chief executive Adrian Lloyd said.
“By mid-July we’ll have broadcast-quality lights, which are 1000 lux which puts them right up there with the main venues around Melbourne.
“It’s a boutique venue with a lovely grandstand and great facilities. There’s change rooms both sides of the ground, really good communication between the interchanges, which are brand new, and the coaches box.
“It’s got a lot of things going for it so we thought, why not? And we did.”
Lloyd, who has worked as a sports administrator for Melbourne Victory, Super Rugby and Carlton, said paying games at SkyBus Stadium would “put us on the map”.
Clubs staying in quarantine hubs in that region could also use the venue as a training facility.
“It certainly doesn’t do us any harm and maybe the AFL might look after us and give us a couple of quid, too – that would be handy,” Lloyd said.
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“The AFL hasn’t come back to me and said the venue is one they’re considering, but it’s there and it’s in very good condition and available.”
Meanwhile, Gold Coast’s access to a trio of training grounds next to Metricon Stadium and the easing of Queensland state restrictions has put it in the box seat to be the base of one of the AFL’s three hubs to restart football.
Suns chief executive Mark Evans said southeast Queensland ticked every box for a quarantine hub given excellent weather, multiple grounds with broadcast-quality lights and low coronavirus positives.
The league will announce its return-to-play protocols on May 11, with the Herald Sun revealing last week a return to footy as early as June 21 is a realistic chance.
The Gabba and Metricon Stadium would share the workload of six teams playing every five days, with the AFL understood to need two AFL venues with broadcast quality lights.
It is yet to be seen how much the lack of a second current AFL venue in Perth and South Australia counts against those states.
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Metricon also has three AFL-standard training grounds adjoining the stadium and resorts including Royal Pines and the Mercure Resort within minutes of the stadium.
It means the state perfectly fits the criteria for a hub where AFL teams would start pre-seasons under heavy quarantine conditions that could ease as the community infections rate drops.
After only three new positives and 103 total live coronavirus cases Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Sunday allowed shopping for non-essential services, picnics, visits to national parks and riding motorbikes, boats or jetskis for recreation.
Evans told the Herald Sun while the league would make its own decision southeast Queensland made plenty of sense as a destination for a football hub.
“The AFL would need to have the ground that can suit broadcasters and potentially host lots of games through the winter months without the grass deteriorating. There would need to be considerations for accommodation and in this part of the world there are hundreds of resorts and options available,” he said.
“And there is a reason why so many Victorians and New South Welshmen come here in the middle of the winter. The weather is a big factor in how you feel about the place.
“It has also done a very good job of flattening the curve.”
Meanwhile, Brisbane chief executive Greg Swann backed the Lions’ involvement in any south-east Queensland hub.
“Obviously there’s a lot of other states trying to lobby for that but ... we think we’ve got accommodation, we’ve got the best facilities, we’ve got the best weather, we’ve got two great grounds that you can play footy on every night.”
The AFL’s players are broadly supportive of the hubs and returning to football but will be canvassed this week about the details including how long they are happy to be in them and whether they are prepared to leave families.
The AFLPA is awaiting more information about what those hubs look like before sending out a survey to the more than 800 mens players which will also cover questions on list sizes and a potential cut to the 2021 and 2022 salary cap.
Clubs believe they could be based in interstate hubs for the first suite of games before eventually descending on Melbourne for the end of the home-and-away season.
Teams that had not yet met in the first dozen matches of the recommenced season would need to finish their season against rival teams.
If all clubs were in Melbourne in the final weeks of the season it would allow them to cross over and fulfil their schedule requirements while also minimising interstate travel.
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