AFL increasingly hopeful it could kick-start season with regular weekend fixture
The AFL is increasingly hopeful it could be able to kick-start the season with a regular weekend fixture when the season roars to life again in June. Jon Ralph has the latest details on that the resumption could look like.
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The AFL is increasingly hopeful it could be able to kick-start the season with a regular weekend fixture when the season roars to life again in June.
But clubs hoping they could start screening players ahead of a return to 10-man training groups next Monday had their hopes dashed on Tuesday night.
The national cabinet met again in Canberra on Tuesday with prime minister Scott Morrison again putting the onus on states to make calls on their own level of restrictions.
Under the hub arrangement that is likely to be scrapped if border restrictions ease on Friday, clubs would have had to play a condensed season to minimise the time and expense of $40 million hubs.
But if the league restarted in the second or third week of June after the three-week pre-season it has told clubs there is more room to finish the 16 games and finals series.
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Club football bosses conducting a hook-up with the AFL on Tuesday night had hoped they could be in Level B training on Monday, which includes 6-10 players training in no-contact situations.
It was made clear to them the date was premature, which means the earliest date for players in Level B training would be May 18.
The AFL has made clear clubs will all be handed a three-week pre-season, which would put it on track for a June 18 return at the earliest.
A normal fixture of 16 weekends of footy would allow clubs to play their stars every week rather than under a cycle of five-day breaks, which would force clubs to rest players.
The league has made clear all options are still on the table, and it could still choose to condense games when teams fly into various states to play interstate opposition.
But the hope is that by Friday’s next cabinet meeting states including Victoria and West Australia might drop restrictions that at present prevent fly-in, fly-out football.
The clear challenge for the AFL is West Australia given it will likely be the last state to relax restrictions.
Victoria’s escalation in COVID-19 positives in the past two days is also cause for concern but the AFL is still optimistic after recent talks it will be able to commence its season in June in Melbourne.
Morrison said it was up to Victoria to ease restrictions as the league prepares to give clubs a return date in the week starting May 11.
“At the end of the day states have sovereignty over decisions that fall specifically within their domain,” he said.
“Within those discussions they have always been candid, they’ve always been honest, they’ve always been in good faith.
“At the end of the day every premier, every chief minister has to stand in front of their state and justify the decisions that they’re taking in terms of the extent of the restrictions that are in place.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott even flagged clubs flying interstate on the morning of games to minimise the chances of contracting coronavirus.
Instead clubs will have to follow strict biosecurity measures that include daily temperature checks and regular covid-19 tests to ensure players remain safe.
Some clubs have raised the possibility of whether clubs from some states would travel on the same weekend on chartered flights to lessen costs and the risk of infection.
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For instance both Queensland teams might travel to Adelaide and play South Australian teams on the same weekend.
Brisbane football boss David Noble said the Lions had more strict protocols around biosecurity measures in Round 1 which would only be enhanced when play returned.
“We put some additional layers in place when we flew to Melbourne for Round 1 anyway,” he said.
“We will be discussing more stringent measures heading into Round 2. We put visitation hours in at the hotel … we had food services at the hotel, we pulled back guys going for coffees, there was no buying food at the airport. All those things mitigate risk and we would imagine we would be going through a similar thought process.”