Tasmania slams the door shut on AFL, Cairns to host hub
Cairns will play host to an AFL hub later in the season as the league grapples with a Tasmanian rebuff.
As the AFL looks to establish a hub in far north Queensland later this season, Australia’s most southern state has slammed the door shut on the Indigenous code for the next phase of the fixture.
North Melbourne had been set to host four games in Hobart as part of contract with Tasmania, with games already scheduled against Melbourne and Brisbane in mid-August at Blundstone Arena.
While Tasmania will open its doors to visitors from Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory from next month, it has bounced the Kangaroos for now, the state’s Premier Peter Gutwein said.
“Unfortunately for North Melbourne and Melbourne supporters, they won’t be playing here on August 9,” he said.
“At the end of the day, and I’ve made this point ad nauseam in regards to the AFL, we will not do anything we believe will put the health of Tasmanians at risk and so, to be frank, in terms of the AFL, that is the least of my considerations.”
The window is not completely closed on the hopes of North Melbourne and Hawthorn fulfilling lucrative contracts believed to be worth $8m with the Tasmanian government to play matches in Hobart and Launceston.
The AFL is yet to fixture games for rounds 13 to 17 and will continue to negotiate with the government and clubs.
North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio is hopeful Tasmania will agree to relax its borders with Queensland prior to those rounds being scheduled to enable the Kangaroos to play four games.
“The AFL has said all along that we must remain flexible and agile as the environment is ever-changing,” he said.
“We will make the necessary changes and our team will adapt accordingly.”
Given the unprecedented demands of the season, relocating two games is scarcely an insurmountable challenge for the competition.
After an approach from Carlton coach David Teague, AFL fixture boss Travis Auld agreed to delay the Round 9 clash between the Blues and Hawthorn in Perth a day to allow an additional day’s rest for the clubs.
“I was impressed that David had gone through the fixture and noted there was an opportunity to improve an outcome for both teams without a consequence for anyone else,” Auld told The Weekend Australian.
“Normally, you can improve outcomes for a club but it comes at the expense of another, so it is a zero-sum game.
“But in this instance, with the flexibility we have got, we were able to give them an extra days break and I think supporters, the players and broadcasters all understand now that even when we release a fixture, there is a need to adjust within those blocks and people have been really understanding and supportive.”
The AFL is yet to announce which clubs will be based in Cairns but said at least three games and perhaps more will be held at Cazaly’s Stadium when rounds 13 to 17 are scheduled.
Gold Coast defenders Jarrod Harbrow and Jack Bowes grew up in Cairns and the Suns have played games in Far North Queensland in recent years, so too the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it was a chance to reward the region.
“It‘s a great football area. We have got a good venue up there. We’ve got an opportunity to promote football in the region and to take the game to the people up there,“ McLachlan said on Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“We‘ve played games up there before and there is surprisingly great depth and strength of AFL up there and it is a good thing for footy.”
While attendances have clearly taken a massive hit in 2020, fans are being allowed back into grounds in increasing capacity in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Queensland.
As a result of the lockout, television ratings for the season are unprecedented as Victorians tune into matches played interstate.
Auld, who was the inaugural chief executive of the Gold Coast, said the opportunity to consolidate on the investment made in the northern markets in recent years was a rare silver lining to stem from the crisis.
“Obviously we have really focused on those markets for some time, from the grassroots through to the elite, but to have all our players here, to have so much content in the Queensland stadiums, is a positive,” he said.
“We want to go to the Northern Territory and there are some conversations going on about the types of games we would like to put into there that we wouldn’t otherwise do.
“All these things are opportunities that while there is complexity in the background, our responsibility is to say that where there are opportunities, we need to take advantage of those, because they may not come again.”
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North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio has issued the following statement following the Tasmanian government’s decision not to open its borders to Queensland.
— North Melbourne (@NMFCOfficial) July 24, 2020
Two @AFL teams will relocate to Cairns under strict quarantine protocols in a move that will create millions of dollars for the local economy. The State Government announced that three games will also be played in local venue Cazaly’s Stadium. https://t.co/kczKzkejL8 #7AFL #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/bj6exkoAAL
— 7NEWS Cairns (@7NewsCairns) July 24, 2020
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