AFL 2020: Victorian clubs move to Queensland confirmed in fixture reveal

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has confirmed the league is making an unprecedented mass migration to Queensland.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has confirmed Brisbane is the new home of football with Victoria’s clubs to call Queensland home for the rest of the 2020 regular season.

With all 10 Victoria-based clubs last week escaping Victoria before the border with NSW was shut, the league confirmed today that the clubs were now facing 10 weeks on the road.

On a dramatic day for the AFL, McLachlan confirmed:

• The rest of the home and away season will not include any more matches in Victoria, unless there is a dramatic change in the state’s alarming coronavirus transmissions

• The next 11 rounds of the season will need to be squeezed into a nine week window before the start of the finals series

• Tasmania and the Northern Territory could host matches

• Teams based in Perth and Adelaide have special exemptions to continue to fly in and fly out of Queensland on the day of games

• The MCG remains the likely venue to host the 2020 AFL grand final; and

• Each Victorian club setting up camp in Queensland will be allowed a combined 100 players and staff inside the Queensland bubble.

“The clear plan is to make Queensland the base for our competition,” McLachlan said.

“We are not able to announce fixtures yet. We are still working through the final details, their (AFLPA) support has been fantastic.

“We will continue to keep our game alive for fans, for clubs and the jobs. We persevere.”

The league does not have any matches scheduled beyond July 27 after it was only able to lock-in matches for Round 8 in a fixture announcement last week.

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The AFL earlier confirmed Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s statement that more Victorian clubs and hundreds of players were moving to Queensland.

The league confirmed eight of the 10 Victorian clubs would call Queensland home, while two more would be based in Perth.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan confirmed Victorian clubs would move to Queensland.

The Sydney Swans and GWS Giants will also be forced north at some stage as a result of the rising number of coronavirus cases recorded in Sydney this week.

Before McLachlan’s Wednesday press conference, reports revealed the wives and families of players would be allowed to travel with the teams as they faced an extended period living away from home.

The family members will also be held to the same strict biosecurity protocols that players have agreed to as part of the bubbles that have isolated players from the general public in recent weeks. That includes a 14-day quarantine period after arriving in Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk earlier said the state will now be pushing for the 2020 AFL grand final to be based in Brisbane because the city will effectively become the new home of football.

“Given the choice between not having a season and having it based in Queensland I think I know what the fans would like to happen,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“As everyone knows, AFL is more than a sport to Victorians. We know how they feel.

“And, as I told Gil (McLachlan), if the season is based here then the grand final should be played here too.”

The AFL’s proposed relocation plan still needed the approval of the AFL Players’ Association when word of the migration first broke on Wednesday morning.