AFL: Giants, Swans games in doubt after positive COVID test in Sydney
Swans and Giants players have been sent for tests after a positive COVID case was recorded in Sydney, throwing the AFL fixture into more uncertainty.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Footballers in Sydney have been sent for tests following a positive COVID case in the city that has the potential to force an AFL fixture change ahead of Round 8.
Essendon is due to fly to Sydney on Saturday to tackle Greater Western Sydney at Giants Stadium, while the Swans are drawn to travel south and tackle Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.
NSW health authorities issued an alert on Wednesday after it was revealed an infected man had visited venues across Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including The Stadium Club and Azure Cafe in Moore Park, shops in Bondi Junction, and the CBD.
The Sydney Cricket Ground is in Moore Park, with the Azure Cafe a popular gathering point for players who train at the ground.
A health expert said the man – who didn’t work in hotel quarantine and had not returned from overseas – had a “higher viral load and (was) therefore potentially more infectious”.
Several Giants live in the eastern suburbs, but have been cleared of the current hot spots.
The AFL had not made any decisions on Wednesday night to move the GWS-Essendon clash away from Sydney.
The Victorian border remains open to NSW.
The Giants also play home games in Canberra, but that might not be an easy fix in case the AFL is planning a relocation.
The ACT would not open its borders to the AFL during COVID outbreaks in Sydney last year.
Swans players and staff were sent for testing on Wednesday night and the club was still planning to board a chartered flight to Melbourne on Saturday.
The club, which is drawn to host Collingwood at the SCG in Round 9, then expects to fly home on Sunday.
EAGLES, DOCKERS LEAVE WA WITH RETURN DATE UNKNOWN
– Sam Landsberger
Fremantle and West Coast will board chartered jets out of Western Australia this week with their return dates unknown.
The Eagles are hopeful they will be cleared to return home after Sunday’s clash against Hawthorn at the MCG, however another fixture swap will be considered if WA’s COVID-19 situation worsens.
The Eagles are due to host Adelaide at Perth Stadium in Round 9.
But the club is aware that if it is unable to return home after Sunday’s game then it must remain on the road, with the Round 9 game likely to be relocated to Adelaide Oval.
Another fixture flip is possible because the Eagles and Crows are due to meet again in Round 18, which could be played in Perth in exchange for next week’s move.
On Tuesday, the AFL confirmed that Fremantle’s clash against Brisbane Lions on Sunday had officially been moved from Perth Stadium to the Gabba.
Watch the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Every match of every round Live on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
The Dockers will set up camp on the Gold Coast on Wednesday and remain in the Sunshine State until they travel to Melbourne for their Round 9 game against Essendon at Marvel Stadium.
They will spend at least 12 nights on the road.
Victorian clubs were told they would be away for 32 days last year as the state’s second wave of COVID-19 spiralled.
But Richmond ended up spending more than 100 days on the Gold Coast as it chased another premiership.
“The health and safety of everyone in the game and the wider community remains the priority as we continue to navigate the pandemic,” AFL football boss Steve Hocking said on Tuesday.
“Our competition will continue to remain. The AFL thanks both clubs, players and the AFLPA, venues, governments, and supporters for their understanding.”
The fixture flip will prevent Fremantle from sacrificing another $1 million by playing a second home game in front of no spectators.
It will also safeguard the Lions against encountering any border problems by attempting to leave WA next week.
The AFL wants to provide a level of certainty for fans after close to 100,000 tickets were sold and then refunded for games in Perth over the past two weeks.
West Coast players sang the club song while wearing masks after Sunday’s derby victory because WA regulations state that masks are compulsory indoors.
WA recorded no new COVID-19 local infection cases on Monday, although the state is still precariously placed after a security guard and two of his housemates tested positive to the US strain of the virus.
Anybody who received an Uber Eats or Menulog delivery last Thursday, Friday or Saturday has been advised to monitor for symptoms.
“There’s every chance we might have to move to Melbourne for a little bit, and there’s every chance we won’t,” West Coast coach Adam Simpson said on Fox Footy.
“Financially both (WA) clubs have taken a pretty big hit and our members and supporters haven’t been able to see us.”
The Eagles play Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday and, at this stage, are expecting to return home afterwards.
Simpson said the Eagles would’ve been stuck in Victoria after last week’s loss to Geelong if the AFL hadn’t secured a charter flight, which have once again become standard.
Clubs were boarding commercial flights earlier in the season..
Full cost of WA derby fan ban revealed
– Jon Ralph
The AFL’s football economy has had $2.5 million ripped away in the space of eight days after the Western Derby was ruled a crowd no-show.
The 45,000 fans who were to be allowed into Optus Stadium were instead shut out as the Mark McGowan State Government managed three new cases of COVID which emerged on Saturday.
The Eagles moved back into the top eight with a 59-point win in the fanless blockbuster.
But it will be a financial hit of well over a million dollars for West Coast given the popularity of the clash, after the Dockers copped a similar financial toll when their game against North Melbourne went ahead without any crowds.
West Coast declared profits of over $15 million in 2018-19 combined before just breaking even given the ravaging effects of COVID last year.
But the profit generated by the game would have trickled down into the AFL’s coffers and into WA football through the West Australian football commission.
Clubs are still hopeful the league will ease some of the harsh cuts to football department budgets for 2022, which depends upon a bounce-back year for the league.
Teams hope the league might allow a rise of up to $500,000 in the $6.2 million footy cap for both 2022 and 2023 before a new CBA for players is brokered in 2023.
But there are competing priorities as the league ponders expansion of the AFLW and better pay as well as an injection of funds into community football.
Clubs are hopeful they can make a profit this year with increased crowds of up to 100 per cent in Adelaide, NSW and Brisbane.
While cancelled crowds affect their bottom-line, the league has not yet had to postpone a game, instead flipping the venues for Brisbane and Collingwood’s two clashes this year.
McGowan said having 45,000 spectators at the game was too much of a risk to the state’s hard-won freedoms.
“We have made the decision to not permit spectators attend the Derby this afternoon,“ McGowan said.
“There will be no crowd at this event at Optus Stadium this afternoon.
“I understand people will be disappointed and some people will be frustrated by the decision has been made on health advice and we have tried to communicate this as quickly as possible.”
EAGLES CONTINUE DERBY DOMINATION
— Brad Elborough
West Coast orchestrated an impressive 156-point turnaround in just one week.
After being demolished by 97 points by Geelong in Round 6, coach Adam Simpson labelled his team weak and the performance embarrassing.
With a fistful of stars sidelined through injury, the Eagles regrouped and beat Fremantle by 59 points a week later to continue their dominance in the hometown rivalry at Optus Stadium.
After a first-half shootout that saw 20 goals kicked, the Eagles lifted their tempo to kick nine of 11 second-half goals to win 20.12 (132) to 11.7 (73).
They managing just five goals against the Cats and then kicked their biggest score of the season against the Dockers.
Key forward Josh Kennedy returned to the side and after kicking two goals in the opening quarter finished with three. Although one of Zac Langdon’s two goals looked to have come from the champion forward’s boot.
Jake Waterman and Jack Darling also kicked three apiece.
What would have please Simpson more would have been the intent his side showed for most of the game.
MAY HAY WHEN SUN SHINES
The Dockers had a massive opportunity to take advantage of the Eagles missing three of their key defenders.
Shannon Hurn and Jeremy McGovern were joined on the sidelines midweek by Tom Barrass thanks to a shoulder injury. Remember, too, that Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo and Liam Ryan are also trying to return to the side.
Fremantle’s Matt Taberner found himself on second-gamer Harry Edwards and made the most of his chances.
Taberner kicked three goals either side of quarter-time to help the Dockers open up an 11-point lead early in the second term.
Once again, it was David Mundy’s work in the midfield, with two clearances and seven possessions, for the term, that saw the Dockers in front.
The chances started to dry up for Taberner, though, due mainly to West Coast taking control of the game further up the ground.
Oscar Allen also took up a key position in defence, making life hard for the Dockers forwards.
Mundy’s efforts didn’t halt though, the veteran finishing with 29 possessions and Andrew Brayshaw 32.
HANDS ON THE BALL
By halftime, West Coast had arrested the momentum and held a 13-point lead.
Andrew Gaff was again able to get his hands on the ball and had 21 possessions at the main break.
But several of his teammates, who didn’t see much of it against Geelong a week earlier, were clearly keen to make amends.
Against the Cats, Jack Redden had 20 possessions for the game, Tim Kelly had just 16, Dom Sheed 13 and Liam Duggan 10.
In the first half against the Dockers, that quartet had 58 touches between them – 23 of them contested. Kelly, Sheed and Duggan had already surpassed their statistics from the week before.
Kelly finished with a career-high 42 touches — 23 of them contested — as well as 14 clearances.
When Jamie Cripps kicked the first goal of the second half inside 20 seconds of the siren sounding to start it, the Eagles had made the most of that midfield work to kick six of seven goals to open up a 19-point lead.
KINGS OF OPTUS
Fremantle went into the game looking for its first run of four consecutive wins since round 15-19 of the 2015 season when they made it through to a preliminary final.
And with the Eagles missing at least seven of their starting line-up, the Dockers would have looked at this as a chance to end a 10-game losing run against West Coast.
But in the Eagles, Fremantle was playing a top-eight side from 2020 for the first time this season.
As tight as this season is, Fremantle dropped from sixth on the table at the start of the round to ninth, and will host a red-hot Brisbane at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
They will have some sore bodies trying to get up for that game too. Both Ethan Hughes (subbed out of the game) and Heath Chapman injured shoulders against West Coast. And star Brayshaw will have a very sore ankle.
West Coast jumped from 10th on the ladder back in to eighth position on the back of the win.
Originally published as AFL: Giants, Swans games in doubt after positive COVID test in Sydney
Socceroos hope to emulate famous win
The feeling the Socceroos had after their famous win over Japan at the 2006 FIFA World Cup is something national coach Tony Popovic wants his players to also experience in Saitama on Tuesday night.
Blockbuster trade flipped on its head
One of the biggest names on the AFL’s trade table has been left in limbo after a blockbuster three-team move was sensationally snubbed.