Coronavirus Australia AFL news: Competition set to move north, Annastacia Palaszczuk wants grand final
It’s on: the AFL confirms relocation to Queensland, but holds out on awarding it the ultimate grand final prize.
AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan has confirmed the AFL will move its Victorian teams north for up to 10 weeks, making Queensland the centre of the competition amid Victoria’s second wave surge of coronavirus.
It comes after talks between the AFL and Queensland government this morning, when Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made a play for her state to host the grand final.
Mr McLachlan on Wednesday afternoon confirmed a “transition hub” will be set up in Queensland, where the players’ loved ones and “top up players” will have to quarantine for 14 days.
“This is a clear plan that makes Queensland the base for our competition and provides greater certainty for everyone,” Mr McLachlan said.
He said Melbourne, which is currently NSW-based, would move to Queensland next week.
Mr McLachlan said there was no decision to shift the Grand Final away from Melbourne, despite Ms Palaszczuk’s bid to host it in QLD.
“There is no decision made on the grand final, this is the home and away season … the grand final is at the MCG until there are circumstances and reasons it can’t be and we’ll make a decision then,” he said.
Mr McLachlan rang Ms Palaszczuk shortly before she went into parliament on Wednesday morning, suggesting more Victorian teams be based in Queensland as the coronavirus crisis worsens in the southern state.
Currently, six of Victoria’s 10 teams are in QLD. A further two teams will be shifted north. Currently, there are no Victorian teams based in Victoria.
Queensland is already hosting St Kilda, Richmond, North Melbourne, Essendon, the Western Bulldogs, and Carlton.
A statement from Ms Palaszczuk said: “All other Victorian-based teams will eventually be temporarily relocated to Queensland for the remainder of the home and away season with some teams spending time out of Queensland while completing games in other states such as WA”.
It’s likely the teams will be based on the Gold Coast, and games are expected to be played at Metricon stadium in that city, and Brisbane’s the Gabba.
“In times like this we want to help Victoria out, and today I’m going to urge Queenslanders that when we have the other teams coming here, let’s adopt a Melbourne team and make them feel at home. It’s not often you get a QLD Premier saying that,” she said.
Grand final bid
Ms Palaszczuk put in a bid for the grand final to be played in Queensland.
“The fact we’ll be hosting nearly all of the teams here … I did put in a bid, as you would expect me to as Premier of QLD, if we’re hosting most of the competition here, it would be great to see if we could actually host the grand final,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
She said she thought Mr McLachlan would give the proposal “due consideration,” and it would depend on what happened with COVID-19 in other states.
“I’m enthusiastic, I think Queenslanders would be enthusiastic, I think we should give it a red hot go,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said shifting the teams to Queensland would likely be worth “millions to the Queensland economy”.
She said she was not aware of any other sporting codes that had asked to shift teams or competitions to Queensland.
Big business
The AFL is looking to book accommodation for “hundreds of players and officials at Queensland hotels for two months”.
“You can imagine what that means to those businesses,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I stress none of these measures can happen without strict quarantine protocols and the COVID management plan that has allowed the AFL season to proceed.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the move was another “tick for the legacy of the Commonwealth Games and the Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium”.
“It’s more fire in the belly for the (Gold Coast) Suns and the (Brisbane) Lions,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Negotiations between the AFL and the Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young are continuing.
Ms Palaszczuk said strict protocols would have to be enacted.
“This is another way QLD is helping Victoria,” she said. Queensland has had zero new coronavirus cases overnight, and just four active cases remain.
“(We have had) no cases of community transfer since May,” she said.
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