What the Crows and Power will be doing following the postponement of the AFL season due to the coronavirus pandemic
Rather than preparing for a Showdown on Saturday night, the two South Australian AFL sides will begin the grim task of cost cutting and trying to salvage jobs.
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They should be preparing for SA football’s biggest stage – Saturday night’s Showdown – but instead Adelaide and Port Adelaide will on Monday begin the grim task of cost cutting and trying to salvage jobs after the AFL season was postponed due to the coronavirus.
In what AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan described as “the most serious threat to our game” in its history, the AFL season has been suspended until May 31 at the earliest and the AFLW season cancelled without crowning a premier.
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This was always a possibility when the AFL season started with Round 1 last Thursday night but the AFL Commission’s decision was made on Sunday when State Governments including SA announced they were closing their borders to deal with the pandemic.
Unfathomable just a month ago, the AFL and its clubs are on their knees and will collectively slash millions of dollars from their budgets which will mean staff cuts and dramatic changes to their football departments.
Games have been suspended until May 31 but that may be extended when the league reviews the situation at the end of April.
Club training has also been banned and players are expected to be given individual programs to follow while the competition is in hiatus.
McLachlan said it was the right decision to start the season last Thursday just as it was the right decision to suspend it on Sunday – albeit now a very sobering one.
“To say this is the most serious threat to our game in 100 years is an understatement. It is unprecedented in its impact,” he said.
“For the next 48 hours the AFL and clubs will detail the drastic and immediate steps we need to be taken to cut costs.
“It’s become very real in the last several hours and it’s going to be a very real few days as people – me, chief executives and presidents – have to have honest conversations with staff and people because this is a very human part of the business, this virus is taking an incredibly physical toll on many people and will continue to do so, but the economic and livelihood costs is significant as well.
”Our key priority is to do everything possible to keep players, staff and supporters healthy and well during this pandemic.
“Our industry provides livelihoods for thousands and thousands of people, but our key focus at the moment like every organisation in the country, is to do everything that needs to be done to slow the spread of this virus.”
AFL teams flew across the country in chartered planes and stayed on their own dedicated floor of hotels and had their temperatures taken before playing in font of empty stadiums on the weekend.
Adelaide lost to Sydney by three points at home while Port Adelaide moved to the top of the ladder after beating Gold Coast by 47 points at Metricon Stadium.
The AFL remains hopeful the remaining 144 games plus finals – under a revised 17-round season – will still be completed in the second half of the year.
“The competition will need to remain agile and flexible to when those games are scheduled and when play returns,” McLachlan said.
“We are prepared to run as late as possible in 2020 to complete the season if it was required.
“Our focus over the coming days is working with the clubs to embed medical protocols provided, finalise the operating model for the clubs during the temporary suspension period and to work with our funding partners to secure a line of credit to fund cash shortfalls across the industry while allowing the best possible chance for a return of football matches.”
Originally published as What the Crows and Power will be doing following the postponement of the AFL season due to the coronavirus pandemic