Derby games still on cards as AFL shuffles deck for revised fixture

The AFL’s fixture boss Travis Auld has said it is all but certain Adelaide and Perth will still host local derbies this year.

Richmond player Bachar Houli returns an exercise bike to the Tigers’ clubrooms at Punt Road Oval on Sunday, with teams set to resume training on Monday. Picture: AAP

The AFL’s fixture boss Travis Auld has said it is all but certain Adelaide and Perth will still host local derbies this year, despite their clubs’ relocation to the east coast to restart the 2020 season.

A semblance of normality will return to the AFL on Monday as footballers resume training at their clubs to prepare for the season’s scheduled restart on June 11.

The AFL wrapped up an initial round of COVID-19 tests on Saturday, with league chief executive Gillon McLachlan stating that 1260 tests of players and officials had all come back clear.

Footballers will undergo tests twice a week throughout the season and also have their temperatures taken daily in a bid to protect the league from another coronavirus interruption.

Players will train in groups of eight throughout this week to comply with AFL guidelines, a rule that ensures Port Adelaide and the Crows can remain within South Australian law before relocating to southeast Queensland.

The Power and the Crows will arrive on the Gold Coast ahead of a return to full-contact training next Monday, and will be joined before the restart next month by the Eagles and Fremantle.

Auld, whose department is due to unveil a reshaped fixture schedule for the next four rounds of the abridged season by next Monday, said it was likely Richmond would host Collingwood to restart the campaign.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he would await confirmation before preparing his Magpies for a clash with the reigning premiers at the MCG.

“I’ve heard a lot about a lot over the past six, seven or eight weeks and what is true today may not be true tomorrow with the changing environment,” Buckley said. “But if that is to be, we will get started at some point — and if June 11 is the date that kicks things off and we are a part of it, we wouldn’t say no.”

The four clubs based in the southeast Queensland hub for at least the opening month will play matches against each other and also against the Suns and Brisbane. But the AFL is hopeful that should border restrictions ease in South Australia and Western Australia, those clubs will be able to return home for the remainder of the year.

While it is unlikely that fans will be allowed into stadiums this year, the AFL and various government officials are yet to completely shut that prospect down.

Auld said that as a result, the AFL would attempt to hold back the hometown derbies until later in the year. At worst, a late-season derby or showdown would draw a significant TV audience, which would appease broadcasters seeking to retain as much revenue as possible.

“If we can, we’ll avoid the derby and the showdown in the first four-week period, ideally, and hold it back to the end of the season,” Auld told ABC Grandstand. “Whether we can achieve that, I’m just not sure at the ­moment. Certainly, in the first four- to five-week block, (the hub) teams will play each other, which means those teams don’t have to travel outside of Queensland.

“During that period, we will continue to assess the environment and if things change, then we can assess.”

A small percentage of AFL and club staff will also return to work over the next fortnight to ensure there is a workforce capable of handling the additional demands of an extraordinary season. But a large portion will remain off work until at least September in line with the AFL’s cost-cutting plan.

An earlier resumption than ­initially expected by head office when the season was suspended in March has given the AFL time to complete the 17 rounds and also four weeks of finals by November.

It was initially felt footballers would have to play matches every four to five days, but at this stage it appears clubs will play only one game a week, as per a usual round.