AFL investigates October finals

The AFL is actively investigating pushing its season into mid-October with the league set to ban all fans from its Round 1 fixture.

The AFL is actively investigating pushing its season into mid-October with the league set to ban all fans from its Round 1 fixture.

The league has fallen into line with government regulations that is expected to force the AFL to play the Carlton-Richmond game behind closed doors.

Carlton and Richmond would have split a massive $1.2 million windfall from gate receipts from Thursday’s MCG season opener under their gate-sharing agreement. Instead the league is set to announce fans will not be allowed at Round 1 fixtures as the league’s advice continues to be updated.

Leading sports doctor Peter Brukner said on Friday football was certain to be shut down at some point in coming weeks.

“It is inevitable someone will test positive at an AFL club within weeks. What happens then? You have to cancel or postpone the league. If I had to make a prediction it will be Round 1 at empty stadiums and that will be it. By Round 2 we will be shut down.”

The Weekend Australian can reveal the league has already been in contact with the MCC about whether it could still conduct AFL finals in October.

The Twenty20 World Cup starts on October 18 — 21 days after the scheduled September 26 AFL grand final — with the first MCG game on October 25. There is a 21-day exclusion zone before the first MCG game that would prevent the league from playing AFL games in October.

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But a deal could be brokered that would allow the AFL to finish its finals series in mid-October before a quick turnaround which saw the MCC installing drop-in pitches before the World Cup match.

The MCC is able to operate its ground on a skeleton staff of as few as 200 staffers — just 10 per cent of the nearly 2000 match-day attendees at a sold-out clash.

Brukner said AFL club doctors at his practice had stopped seeing external patients to ensure they did not pass coronavirus to AFL players. He said there was no point in clubs testing their entire list every day because the virus was moving so fast.

“Someone generally takes about five days to become positive. I could test you today and you are OK. Then on Monday you could have spent the weekend with people and got to a barbecue with them. You would literally have to test every day. One NBA player got coronavirus and the whole league was suspended.

“One premier league manager got coronavirus and the whole league was suspended. I can almost guarantee someone in the next few weeks at an AFL or NRL club is going to test positive.”

After the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix it is hard to countenance how Carlton-Richmond would go ahead with any fans at the MCG. And after the federal government’s advice that mass gathering over 500 people should be cancelled, the league will be forced to follow suit and stop fans attending its games.

What the league has in its favour is flexibility that it hasn’t always had.

It didn’t always have multiple byes factored into its home-and-away and pre-finals slots.

It hasn’t always had the flexibility of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield side playing at Junction Oval instead of reclaiming the MCG only days after the AFL season.

The Twenty20 World Cup’s first MCG game is on October 25. That New Zealand-West Indies clash is 29 days after the grand final, so even if it took a week to change the ground over to its cricket configurations there might be a fortnight of wiggle room that wasn’t there a decade ago. If the league postponed the season by five weeks and eliminated its byes it could still conceivably finish up by mid-October.

It could also decide to play a 17-week home-and-away season ­instead.

Given the peak period of coronavirus was anticipated as mid-April in Australia, maybe 17 rounds is all the league will be able to squeeze in.

Herald Sun