AFL grand final: Western Australia’s cup runneth over with footy fever

The AFL grand final will cap the biggest week of partying in Perth since the 1987 America’s Cup.

Melbourne captain Max Gawn, left, and his Bulldogs counterpart Marcus Bontempelli hold up the premiership cup in front of Perth’s Swan River. Picture: Getty Images

For Mark McGowan, it’s splendid isolation. When the West Australian Premier takes his seat at a packed Perth Stadium on Saturday night at the AFL grand final it will cap the biggest week of partying in the city since the 1987 America’s Cup.

While Western Australia’s draconian border closures and slow vaccination rates have rankled the rest of the country, and puzzled federal government policymakers, the state is currently Covid-19 free.

On Saturday 60,000 mainly West Australians will pack cheek to jowl into Perth Stadium, cheering two teams whose supporters will mostly be forced to watch the game on television in their own homes, without friends, on the other side of the continent.

For now, life on the West Australian side of the iron ore curtain is a fairytale recreation of life ­before Covid-19. But how long can the party last? “You can’t eliminate Covid,’’ federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warned earlier this month.

While locked-down NSW and Victoria have eyed reopening even as case numbers climb, the McGowan government is taking ever tougher measures to keep the virus out. On Friday, McGowan announced that border restrictions with Victoria would be further tightened in response to those growing case numbers.

Border restrictions have only added to the labour pressures increasingly being felt in WA’s mining industry, the backbone of the state’s economy, and a WA hospital system that has been under growing strain despite the lack of Covid in the community.

But it was football on Perth’s mind on Friday as Demons captain Max Gawn and Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli hoisted the premiership cup, with the Swan River and Perth’s skyline as the backdrop.

“I think there is a responsibility for both teams,’’ Gawn said. “We were able to get out of Melbourne at a pretty grim time for the city and both teams have been able to come to sunny Perth and live out our dreams of being able to play in a grand final.’’

Saturday’s grand final is the hottest ticket in town.

When the last 10,250 tickets went on sale to the general public just over a week ago, 180,000 people joined the queue. They were sold out in minutes.

Corporate interest has also been enormous as cashed-up Perth companies have fallen over themselves to drop huge sums on premium hospitality packages.  Some 9000 corporate tickets have been sold, double the amount Perth Stadium would typically sell for a normal fixture. The best of those corporate tickets, including lavish meals and drinks service either within the stadium or at nearby venues, sold for just under $4000 each.

The whole year has been a challenge for the AFL.

“Through the AFLW and the men’s competition, we’ve had four uninterrupted rounds where there hasn’t been some sort of state border or crowd restrictions,” AFL chairman Richard Goyder told The Weekend Australian. “But at the start of the year we were hoping for a grand final on September 25, and now, touching wood, it looks like we are going to do that.”

The full house will deliver the league a windfall that will compensate it for the move from Victoria. Corporate sales mean the league is expecting a profit of around $25m: roughly the same bottom-line boost it would expect hosting the match at the MCG, despite that venue being able to fit 40,000 more people.

But the lead-up has not been without anxiety. A Covid-positive truck driver who passed through WA created a scare that the crowd would be cancelled. Travellers from Queensland were prosecuted for arriving in the state planning to go to the game rather than quarantining.

The Demons, president Kate Roffey and CEO Gary Pert arrived in Perth weeks ago and have been out of quarantine for a fortnight. The Western Bulldogs emerged from quarantine a week ago but president Kylie Watson-Wheeler will get out of quarantine only on Saturday morning in time for the match.

The most sought-after ticket is a seat in the stadium’s Victory Lounge, where Goyder and AFL boss Gil McLachlan will host the likes of McGowan, Seven billionaire Kerry Stokes, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott, BHP Australia president Edgar Basto, Fortescue Metals boss Elizabeth Gaines and Woodside Petroleum chief Meg O’Neill. Former WA premier Colin Barnett, the man behind the decision to develop the world-class $1.6bn stadium on the banks of the Swan River, has also been invited.

Perth Stadium chief executive Mike McKenna has led the effort to get the ground ready with just 25 days’ notice. “We are really conscious that it’s probably the biggest thing that’s happened here in most people’s lifetimes. Everyone in WA is ­really proud of having attracted it, and proud of the stadium.”

WA’s tight border restrictions have severely curtailed the inflow of executives and VIPs from outside the state, with Eddie McGuire and Port Adelaide president David Koch two of the high-profile casualties.

McGowan wants WA to embrace the moment. “We are very sorry for Melbourne and Victoria, like we are for Sydney, but we should be proud that we’re able to hold a historic event in Perth.”