All 10 Victorian AFL teams to relocate to Queensland to escape COVID-19

The AFL will shift its 10 Victorian teams to Queensland for 10 weeks until the end of the season to escape the deepening coronavirus crisis in Melbourne.

Essendon’s David Zaharakis during training on Wednesday at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast. Picture: Michael Klein

The AFL will shift its 10 Victorian teams to Queensland for 10 weeks until the end of the season to escape the deepening coronavirus crisis in Melbourne, embolden­ing Queensland to bid to host the grand final.

Six Victorian teams are already­ holed up in resorts on the Gold Coast and in Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast, and the league is now scrambling to book hundreds more hotel rooms for players­, officials and their families for at least the next two months.

A “transition hub” will be set up in Queensland so top-up players­ and footballers’ relatives can go into mandatory quarantine for 14 days before being allowed­ to join their teams.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan rang Queensland ­Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk per­son­ally on Wednesday morning before she entered parliament to pitch the plan, with Ms Palaszczu­k agreeing — on the condition that the details were approved by Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

The Premier could not resist throwing in a bid to host the grand final, should the MCG be forced to relinquish the biggest sporting event of the year.

“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.

“I’m enthusiastic, I think Queens­landers would be enthus­iastic, I think we should give it a red-hot go.’’

The AFL’s relocation will be worth millions to Queensland’s struggling tourism industry, with the six existing teams in the state already booking out three resorts on the Gold Coast and in Noosa.

Mr McLachlan said the shift to Queensland was only until the end of the home-and-away season­, and the grand final was still planned to be held at the MCG — for now.

“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.

But he said while the shift to Queensland was expensive — worth “in the ballpark” of $3m a week — and an “enormous sacrifice” by families, it was the right decision and the league could afford­ it. “We need to deal with this uncertain­ty and this is a clear plan that makes Queensland the base for our competition, and provides greater certainty for everyone,” Mr McLachlan said.

Melbourne, currently based in NSW, will move to Queensland next week.

The draw is still being worked out, and could be compressed furthe­r, but games could still be played in north Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, Mr McLachlan said.

Queensland was the preferred destination for the relocation, rather than South Australia or Western Australia, as the government was welcoming.