A-League season news: Grand final pushed back as competition faces 27 games in 34 days
With the looming threat of a Queensland back-up plan hanging around, the A-League has confirmed its Grand Final will be pushed back under a new schedule.
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With the looming threat of a Queensland back-up plan hanging over its heads, the A-League announced its second revised schedule in a fortnight - pushing back the grand final by a week and adding a pair of double-headers.
Nervous A-League clubs are embracing a ‘wait-and-see’ approach with the increasingly concerning NSW COVID-19 spike, which recorded another 13 positive tests on Wednesday, and are firmly aware of the ‘set in stone’ Plan B that would have the entire competition relocate to Queensland on short notice.
For now, however, the A-League is comfortable locking in all but one of the remaining fixtures for the season in NSW - with Adelaide United’s away fixture to Brisbane Roar at Cbus Stadium on Sunday the one exception.
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Both teams will fly to Sydney after their clash, joining the A-League’s NSW hub where 26 of the remaining regular season fixtures will be played.
“We’re used to rolling with the punches, we’re use to things changing quickly and we’re very adaptable,” said Adelaide’s Director of Football Bruce Djite on Wednesday.
“There’s a Plan B now that’s set in stone, that’s in Queensland. We’re happy to go to NSW, we think it’s OK there for the moment.
“As we know things can change very quickly and to have a back-up in Queensland is comforting.”
Having originally planned for a football feast of 27 games in 28 days, the recent COVID-19 spike in Victoria – and subsequent debacle which left the three Melbourne teams stranded less than a week out from the planned restart date – forced another reshuffle on Wednesday.
The new fixture list will now have the remaining regular season matches – starting with Friday’s Sydney FC clash with Wellington Phoenix at Jubilee Stadium – spread out over 34 days, pushing back the finals series.
The finals will now begin on Saturday August 22, with the grand final to take place a week later than planned on the following Sunday.
FFA’s Head of Leagues Greg O’Rourke on Tuesday revealed the league had drawn up a back-up plan to relocate the competition should the COVID-19 situation in NSW intensify in the coming days and weeks.
Wednesday’s announcement that the AFL intends to move all Victorian clubs to Queensland - potentially for the rest of the home-and-away season - has left some A-League clubs looking over their shoulders fearing they too will be forced to pack up and head north.
However Plan A has always been to play out the season in NSW - with five venues locked in, and Bankwest Stadium and ANZ Stadium shouldering much of the load.
The three Melbourne teams will exit quarantine on July 25 – and celebrate with a derby clash between Victory and Western United at Bankwest Stadium, part of a double-header with Wellington and Adelaide.
That will be one of two double-headers lined up for the rest of the season, with Perth Glory and Western United playing before Western Sydney Wanderers and Victory, also at Bankwest Stadium, on August 12.
“The scene is now set for an exciting finish to the season,” said O’Rourke.
FULL FIXTURE LIST FOR REMAINDER OF A-LEAGUE SEASON (all times AEST)
July 17: Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 18: Perth Glory v Central Coast Mariners (Central Coast Stadium, 5pm)
July 19: Brisbane Roar v Adelaide United (CBUS Super Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 21: Sydney FC v Newcastle Jets (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 22: Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix (Bankwest Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 24: Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets (Central Coast Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 25: Wellington Phoenix v Adelaide United (Bankwest Stadium, 5pm)
July 25: Melbourne Victory v Western United (Bankwest Stadium, 7.35pm)
July 27: Central Coast Mariners v Western Sydney Wanderers (Central Coast Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 29: Melbourne Victory v Brisbane Roar (Bankwest Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 30: Adelaide United v Perth Glory (Bankwest Stadium, 7.30pm)
July 31: Western Sydney Wanderers v Wellington Phoenix (Bankwest Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 1: Melbourne City v Sydney FC (ANZ Stadium, 5pm)
August 2: Newcastle Jets v Western United (McDonald Jones Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 3: Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 4: Western Sydney Wanderers v Perth Glory (Bankwest Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 5: Wellington Phoenix v Brisbane Roar (Bankwest Stadium, 6pm)
August 6: Adelaide United v Sydney FC (ANZ Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 7: Western United v Western Sydney Wanderers (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 8: Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 5pm)
August 10: Brisbane Roar v Sydney FC (ANZ Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 11: Melbourne City v Adelaide United (ANZ Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 12: Perth Glory v Western United (Bankwest Stadium, 5.35pm)
August 12: Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne Victory (Bankwest Stadium, 8.10pm)
August 13: Newcastle Jets v Wellington Phoenix (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
August 15: Sydney FC v Western United (Bankwest Stadium, 5pm)
August 19: Western United v Melbourne City (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 7.30pm)
ELIMINATION FINALS
August 22 : Team 4 v Team 5 or Team 3 v Team 6 (Venue TBC)
August 23: Team 4 v Team 5 or Team 3 v Team 6 (Venue TBC)
SEMI-FINALS
August 26: 1 v Lowest Ranked EF Winner or 2 v Highest Ranked EF Winner (Venue TBC)
August 26: 1 v Lowest Ranked EF Winner or 2 v Highest Ranked EF Winner (Venue TBC)
GRAND FINAL
August 30: Winner Semi-Final v Winner Semi-Final 2 (Venue TBC)
A-LEAGUE’S QLD PLAN TO AVOID TRAVEL SHAMBLES REPEAT
By Joe Barton
The A-League has moved swiftly to avoid a repeat of its Melbourne embarrassment, locking in a potential escape plan to Queensland should Sydney’s COVID-19 situation escalate.
A week after two doomed attempts to cross the NSW border by its three Melbourne clubs left the league with egg on its face, A-League boss Greg O’Rourke outlined the game’s contingency plans amid the coronavirus crisis which is creeping up Australia’s east coast.
The current plan is to restart the season with Sydney FC’s high-flying clash with Wellington on Friday, and play all but one of the remaining 27 regular season fixtures and then finals in NSW.
However there remains an option to relocate all 11 A-League teams and have the competition play out in Queensland – a move which could be carried out as soon as this weekend, if required.
FFA officials spent Tuesday securing stadiums, accommodation and training facilities in Queensland should Plan B need to be called into action.
“We’ve been speaking to government at many different levels, many different departments about the current restrictions and what they feel the impact would be,” O’Rourke said on Tuesday.
“At this point in time, knowing that these things can change quite dramatically, our position would be that we’d continue to play all our games here (in NSW) and that we would be able to operate as a workplace and we would continue to do that until we were advised otherwise.”
Sydney is experiencing a worrying COVID-19 spike, with clusters emerging in the city’s south-west and 28 positive cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
A further 13 positive tests were registered on Tuesday, with O’Rourke acknowledging the potential of the spread intensifying – as was experienced in Melbourne, which led to border closures and three A-League teams being stranded.
77 Sydney suburbs have already been classified as COVID-19 hot spots by the Queensland government, with residents from these areas banned from heading north under strict new border measures.
No players or staff in the Western Sydney Wanderers or Sydney FC’s bubble live in the affected suburbs meaning, as it stands, all would be clear to apply for border clearance and cross without a quarantine period upon arrival in Queensland.
However the situation bears alarming similarities to that of Melbourne last week, when a handful of postcodes were declared hot spots shortly before a closure of the NSW-Victoria border and a city-wide, six-week lockdown.
“These things we’ve seen in other parts of Australia and obviously internationally, when small numbers can become big,” O’Rourke said.
“But I need to rely on the Department of Health and others who are qualified about that. At the moment, given what we know, we’re comfortable with Plan A.”
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One potential hurdle the A-League could yet face is Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United all remain in a 14-day quarantine period in Sydney, which will expire on July 25, and would not be able to join a potential Queensland hub until after that.
“The current restrictions in Queensland for their border would be that people that had not been in a Victorian hotspot for two weeks are allowed,” O’Rourke added.
“So obviously the Victorians coming up to Sydney and quarantining for 14 days satisfy that.”
The tightening of restrictions by the NSW government this week could spell an end to having crowds, however.
“We’ll have to do whatever the government restrictions at the time are,” O’Rourke said.
“There’s a health order now that’s out which talks to exactly what you can do by stadia – it’s our understanding that they will be reviewed ongoing, and potentially a restriction or reduction of fans is a possibility in the short-term.”
Originally published as A-League season news: Grand final pushed back as competition faces 27 games in 34 days