AFL Covid updates: All the latest fixture and venue news

A Melbourne football hub and a possible footy frenzy are two options being considered by the AFL to keep the season alive as the national Covid crisis worsens.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 17: Toby Greene of the Giants kicks at goal during the round five AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants at Sydney Cricket Ground on April 17, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/AFL Photos/Getty Images)

The AFL is seriously considering a Melbourne football hub and even a footy frenzy as the nation’s escalating Covid crisis threatens the football season once more.

On a day when a single Covid case in Perth saw the WA government ban all spectators at the West Coast-Western Bulldogs game at Optus Stadium, the league was forced to consider all options.

Covid cases in Sydney, Perth, Darwin and Queensland saw the league frantically planning for coming weeks and considering whether Melbourne could be the heart of footy for the coming month.

News Corp understands the league is seriously considering whether to relocate the Fremantle-Carlton game next Saturday to Melbourne given the prospect of no crowds in Perth.

South Australia’s decision on Sunday afternoon to shut its borders to states including West Australia, Queensland and ACT will also force the league to consider relocating the Adelaide-Brisbane game at Adelaide Oval next weekend.

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If a footy frenzy returns to ensure the season survives, games could be played on five or six days of the week.

Brisbane would need a special exemption to cross the border and a 60-hour quarantine period but there is precedent after Collingwood played in Adelaide when the SA-Victoria border was closed.

The league will assess its options for both those games in coming days but has made no decisions yet.

If the league was to commit to a hub in Victoria it would likely consider a footy frenzy which could see games being played on five or six days of the week.

The league could play a fixture across Thursday-Tuesday at venues including the MCG, Marvel Stadium and GMHBA Stadium, spreading the games out across several nights to allow the venues to cater for multiple games.

Or it could even condense the fixture and play four or five rounds across three weeks to give non-Victorian teams a chance for a mid-season break to see their families.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan told players on June 1 lengthy hubs were a “last resort” only after the league had considered all options.

He did not explicitly rule out hubs for clubs, but it is becoming increasingly clear flying clubs across borders is untenable given the spread of COVID.

Last year the AFL was able to station Victorian clubs in Queensland and fly them across the country while Victoria dealt with its own Covid crisis.

This year the league is aware every interstate trip takes clubs through potential exposure sites that could see them forced into quarantine.

Taylor Walker and his teammates are likely to see the league to relocate the Adelaide-Brisbane game at Adelaide Oval next weekend.

The Herald Sun revealed on Sunday only a fluke of travel plans prevented Geelong from being on a Brisbane flight on Friday with a Covid-positive Virgin flight attendant.

The Cats took an early flight home rather than the 1pm flight, and would have had to quarantine for 14 days if they shared that commercial flight.

The league has now conceded all flights in coming weeks will be chartered but every flight or visit to an airport exposes the AFL to likely exposure sites.

North Melbourne players were quarantining until they received a negative test on Sunday after they were at a tier two exposure site at the Melbourne Airport travelling to Tasmania on Saturday.

The league has not booked a series of hotels in Melbourne as a contingency as it did last year.

But on Fox Footy former coronavirus cabinet member Eddie McGuire pitched a scenario where the AFL ensured teams had played each other once each in case of a truncated season.

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A greatly restricted crowd at the MCG for the Richmond v St Kilda game on Friday night. Picture: Michael Klein

nd he said the wealth of elite facilities across Melbourne could see the clubs even staying at Crown Casino and playing in Victoria for weeks to come.

“If you are here in Melbourne, there is pretty much everything here for you to look at that,” he said.

“Victoria is set up better than anywhere to do this, you have the Olympic Park hub, Richmond at Punt Road, AAMI Park, the tennis centre, you have Victoria Park, Carlton in an inner area, Geelong comes into play, you could play at Ballarat, and if GWS were playing Gold Coast you could play it at Ikon Park.

“The other thing that comes into play is the Olympic period (from July 23 to August 8).

“If we went to a situation with a footy frenzy and got as many games away as we could, Channel 7 have got the Olympic Games and Fox Footy could continue showing games but it gives us a period to stretch out to allow teams to go back home, or at the very least we could go hard to get the season out of the way as quickly as possible.”

Sheer fluke: AFL avoids Covid fixture catastrophe

Geelong players narrowly averted exposure to a Covid-positive flight attendant on Friday in a development which would have shut down the club’s ability to play for a month.

North Melbourne players are in quarantine at their homes on Sunday until they secure a negative Covid test after being at Melbourne Airport between 7-8am on Saturday at a tier two exposure site.

The Roos were on a chartered plane into Tasmania and so were not exposed to the general public so will be able to take on the Western Bulldogs next week.

Geelong players flew from Brisbane on Friday morning on a commercial flight, with the Covid-positive Virgin flight attendant flying on a later plane that departed Brisbane at 2.59pm and arrived into Melbourne at 5.16pm.

It was a sheer fluke the Cats did not travel later, which would have exposed them to the attendant and turned the plane into a tier one exposure site.

Geelong has narrowly avoided exposure to a flight attendant who tested positive to Covid. Picture: Chris Hyde/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

The entire Geelong team and coaches would have had to be quarantined for 14 days in their houses, and then would have needed another fortnight to build back to full fitness.

It would have been a catastrophe for the AFL’s fixture, which continues to survive on a week-to-week basis.

It means the league will have to consider whether to charter planes for every AFL flight in an expensive move that will limit the exposure of players.

North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell confirmed on Nine the Roos players needed a negative test before returning to training.

“I suppose we were alerted to the situation late last night at the airport once the details were uncovered and it’s a bit like the way this year goes, everything is unexpected and evolves quickly. We have been advised to get a test this morning first thing and isolate at home until we get a negative restless and to await further details. With the AFL travel protocols it’s pretty strict when we travel interstate. We flew in and out and had a chartered flight and were required to wear masks on the flight and in the airport. Fingers crossed the week can pan out as expected.”

Jack Ziebell said the Roos need to return a negative test before being allowed to train. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

Box Hill played a VFL game against Aspley in the VFL yesterday, with the Aspley players having to quarantine for 14 days after they were on a flight that is now a tier one exposure site.

Out of an abundance of caution Box Hill coaches Sam Mitchell and Andy Otten will not be involved in Hawthorn’s game against GWS this afternoon at the MCG.

There were 13 Hawthorn-listed players in the Box Hill side on Saturday, so the players will need to quarantine until a negative test.

GWS and Sydney will now be in Melbourne for the foreseeable future as the Covid cluster in NSW rapidly expands.

The league is hopeful of keeping Sydney and GWS in Melbourne for only three weeks but clearly there is a prospect that time frame could balloon out.

GWS will move from an inner-city hotel into bigger apartments this week but there are no family with their club.

VENUE ON STANDBY FOR SYDNEY DERBY

Canberra could host the AFL’s Sydney Derby for the first time if the Harbour City’s latest Covid-19 outbreak isn’t under control soon.

The NSW Government’s decision to plunge more regions, including all of Greater Sydney, into lockdown until at least midnight on July 9 will further impact the Swans and Giants.

Both clubs made a mad dash to the airport on Tuesday night to fly into Victoria and now they face a longer stint on the road.

The Giants had their home game on Sunday against Hawthorn relocated to the MCG, while the Swans’ match with the Power on Saturday was moved to an earlier timeslot to enable them to fly in and out of Adelaide.

Could the latest Battle of the Bridge be held in Canberra? Picture: Phil Hillyard

Greater Western Sydney was already scheduled to play at the MCG next week against Melbourne, but it is also likely to host Gold Coast at a Victorian venue in Round 17.

Next week’s fixtured SCG matchup between Sydney and West Coast will instead be played at Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium next Sunday, because of the developing NSW coronavirus situation.

The Swans are down to play the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in a fortnight’s time.

The Round 18 Sydney Derby – on the weekend starting July 17 – is planned for Giants Stadium, but GWS chief executive Dave Matthews said Canberra’s Manuka Oval would be the “best possible fallback” for his club.

Last year’s Sydney Derby was played at Perth’s Optus Stadium in a disastrous outcome for both clubs, with the Swans trouncing the Giants by 41 points.

“That’s our biggest day of the year, to host our cross-town rivals. We’ve been selling that game out, so from a revenue point of view, it’s a big advantage or disadvantage, one way or the other,” Matthews told SEN.

“We’re hoping we don’t have to play in Perth again, based on our performance last year, but I think it’s certainly one to watch.

“I guess we’re in the hands of the government authorities basically, and we need to work with the AFL on whatever parameters get thrown up.”

Josh Kelly kicked the matchwinner in the last Sydney Derby. Picture: Getty Images

There were no matches in Canberra last year, because of the way the AFL structured the Covid-19-impacted season, and it’s understood GWS would be keen to repay its ACT members.

The Giants have already played at Manuka Oval twice this season and are due to host Port Adelaide there in Round 20.

Now, an additional Canberra home match is potentially on the cards, assuming the Victorian Government doesn’t close its borders to the ACT, on top of NSW.

“Canberra’s track record with Covid is fantastic,” Matthews said.

“The Swans have got a good supporter base down there, that game would sellout at 15,000 and I think it would have the sort of impact and feel that Essendon and Hawthorn had in Tasmania at the weekend.

“To get a game there would be the best possible fallback to not playing it at Giants Stadium, but, other than that, I guess, we’re just in the lap of the gods, in terms of how it unfolds.”