Integrity of revived AFL season in peril

The AFL’s best efforts to ensure the integrity of the season are in peril despite the optimism associated with a return to training.

David Koch says being forced away from home for weeks will disadvantage Port Adelaide.

The AFL’s best efforts to ensure the integrity of an extraordinary season are in peril despite the optimism associated with a return to training as soon as Monday.

The league is expected to announce on Friday the training guidelines for clubs over the next month with a view to restarting the season by mid-June.

But a variety of lockdown laws across five states means teams in Western Australia and South Australia are set to be uprooted. Adelaide and Port Adelaide will be forced to set up camp in a hub in southeast Queensland as early as next week because of a statewide ban on gathering of groups of more than 10 that does not expire until June 8. And the two Perth teams will stage a mini pre-season campaign at home before shifting to the Gold Coast hub.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said being forced away from home for up to seven weeks would “severely disadvantage” the Power’s premiership push.

Sydney coach John Longmire is another to voice concern about the potential negative impact on performance for clubs forced to relocate.

But the clubs most affected — Port, the Crows, West Coast and Fremantle — have accepted relocation is a necessary step to get football restarted.

This, in turn, will go some way to protecting the competition at large after significant concern was raised about the future of several clubs when the shutdown began in March.

Even the short-term use of a hub will come at a cost of several million dollars. Collingwood president Eddie McGuire priced the cost at $2000 per person for a week. Exactly how many players, coaches and officials will need to relocate is being finalised.

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham, who is a member of the AFL’s coronavirus crisis cabinet, said the AFL had done a remarkable job given the complexity of dealing with five states.

“It’s been very, very challenging,” Pridham told SEN. “In the early days of the crisis in the AFL industry, we had days where I couldn’t see how we were going to pull through this.

“It’s been a remarkable effort to get through what I call the survive phase.”

As Koch noted on Thursday, overcoming the difficulties caused by COVID-19 would make “victory even sweeter” in 2020.

The strict border stance adopted by South Australia and Western Australia has derailed the AFL’s hopes of using charter flights to play out the season.

But it has not derailed its belief that it can finish the remaining 144 matches of the abridged season and also a finals series by the end of October.

Should border restrictions begin to ease in those states, the AFL is hopeful the charter flight model will be adopted for the latter stages of the 17-round season.

McGuire has earmarked a clash against Richmond at the MCG on June 11 as a blockbuster to highlight the return of football.

But some clubs still believe a start date of June 18 is more likely as the AFL reverts to a model involving the use of a hub for at least part of the season.

Port Adelaide football manager Chris Davies was still hopeful the club would receive a reprieve on Thursday to avoid an immediate relocation.

“The discussion around where we relocate to is still one that we need to have,” Davies said.

“But right now we’re working with both the AFL and the government in the hope that we can get some of the training requirements organised such that we don’t have to move in the short term. But if those can’t be changed then we’ll have to move interstate.”

The Eagles and Fremantle, who will also relocate to southeast Queensland, will be allowed to train with full contact from May 25 after an announcement by the Western Australia government on Thursday.

This may allow those clubs additional time to relocate to the Gold Coast.

It is reported the Royal Pines and Palm Meadows golf resorts, which are close to the Suns’ Metricon Stadium, are likely accommodation bases for the WA and SA clubs.

It is expected clubs will begin training in groups of 10 from Monday to comply with the restrictions of state governments. A three-week training block including full contact would enable footballers to be ready for a resumption by mid-June.

Some players are hopeful that their families will be able to join them in the hub.