Qld’s bid for AFL grand final includes Brownlow on Gold Coast

As the race to secure the AFL Grand Final heats up, Queensland has pulled out the big guns.

Queensland is using the glitz and glamour of the Gold Coast to help secure the AFL grand final and its night of nights.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns will on Tuesday make its pitch to host the flagship events as part of a festival of football.

The group’s proposal includes a plan to host the AFL grand final, the Brownlow Medal, as well as the Rising Star and All-Australian awards.

While the premiership match would be played at the Gabba, Ms Palaszczuk said she’d like the night for the WAGs to be held on the glitter strip.

Fremantle star Nat Fyfe in 2019 after winning his second Brownlow Medal. Picture: Michael Klein

“The Gold Coast has done a great job in the past of hosting the Logies and of course the Commonwealth Games so we think there is enormous potential,” she said on Tuesday.

Ms Palaszczuk said the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games showed the sunshine state could host world-class events.

She also said the popularity of AFL was growing.

“It’s up 30 per cent, so there’s enormous potential up here in Queensland,” she said.

The Gabba has become the home ground for many Victorian teams in recent months including Collingwood. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

All of the AFL’s Melbourne teams have relocated north in recent months after stage 4 lockdown restrictions were introduced as a result of a second wave of COVID-19.

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Queensland will have hosted more than 80 AFL games by the end of the 2020 season, making it the front-runner to host the grand final.

Ms Palaszczuk has watered down her rhetoric about hosting the event in recent weeks, instead saying she would wait for the AFL to make its decision.

On Tuesday, the Queensland premier confirmed she would be speaking to the AFL about hosting the grand final “if and when the Victorian Government and the Victorian AFL makes a firm decision that it cannot go ahead in Victoria”.

The 2020 AFL grand final will likely not be played at the MCG because of the Victorian coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Jason Edwards

“These are very, very early days,” she said.

“This is purely an opportunity for Queensland to talk to the AFL.”

Western Australia, South Australia and NSW are also vying to host the 2020 premiership match, with reports WA Premier Mark McGowan has offered $30 million to host the game at Optus Stadium.

Sydney’s bid to host it with more than 50,000 people at ANZ Stadium could run into trouble, depending on the state the AFL lands on.