Victoria’s extended state of emergency to delay AFL restart hopes
The AFL season appears unlikely to resume until July after Premier Daniel Andrews extended Victoria’s state of emergency.
The AFL season appears unlikely to resume until at least July after Premier Daniel Andrews extended Victoria’s state of emergency on Sunday by a month.
Victoria’s travel restrictions have been stretched to May 11, but Andrews fears the “extraordinary measures” will likely remain for “many weeks and months”.
Even the extension to May 11 means football cannot resume until June at the earliest.
With the AFL promising the clubs a month to complete a mini pre-season, that takes the theoretical date for the start of Round 2 of the competition to the second week of June.
Andrews said the state of emergency “may well continue beyond” May 11, making a July restart more likely. So strap yourselves in for still more top-10 lists, greatest hits and liberal doses of nostalgia, as real-time football isn’t returning any time soon.
“Many people would love to see footy back as soon as possible but that’s ultimately a matter for the AFL,” Andrews said.
“Everyone wants to get our state back to something approaching normal, and footy is a really big and important part of the way our state functions.
“I do fear, though, that we have many weeks and months to go with quite extraordinary measures, and the good thing is that the strategy is working.”
Collingwood chief executive Mark Anderson remains confident a “meaningful” season will be completed despite the extension of Victoria’s tight restrictions.
The NRL has announced plans to resume playing on May 28, but with 10 of the 18 AFL clubs based in Victoria, lengthened restrictions and border lockdowns affecting interstate clubs means they are unlikely to follow suit.
Rather than be distracted by the discussions around the NRL, Anderson said the AFL was taking a collaborative, “industry-wide” approach to agree on what’s best for its game.
“I haven’t focused too much on what NRL are doing … we’ve been very focused on what we are doing and the discussions and collaboration going on between AFL clubs has been brilliant,” Anderson told ABC Grandstand.
“Our people come first and we want to make sure that the environment and conditions are right to get going again. At the moment, we don’t know when that is.”
He said the optimal plan was still to play the remaining 144 games plus finals, but a reduced format would also have value.
“There is confidence that we will get under way and have a meaningful season,” Anderson said. “What I’ve really liked about the AFL approach is they are taking a flexible approach. We are living in the moment, but we are very flexible around what structure we might get away and what the competition might look like.”
Extending the state of emergency in the AFL’s heartland of Victoria will fuel calls for the season to restart as soon as possible in hubs set up in Perth, Adelaide and Tasmania. Under that proposal, six clubs would be based in Perth, six in Adelaide, and three in each of Hobart and Launceston.
However the hubs idea has received a lukewarm response and faces more hurdles by the day. Tasmania, for instance, is the only state where COVID-19 infections are trending upwards. And South Australian Premier Steven Marshall says football isn’t a priority and won’t be for some time.
“I am not interested in talking about lifting restrictions in South Australia,” Marshall said.
Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves doubted there was much substance to the hubs idea.
“I can’t get my head around how that would possibly work,” Reeves told Triple M on Saturday.
“I can’t imagine this happening while the rest of the community are in lockdown or the like.”
The widening gulf between Rounds 1 and 2 — assuming there is a Round 2 — will embolden those calling for a line to be put through each of the nine games already played.
Coaching great Mick Malthouse says the Round 1 games should be relegated to the status of practice matches.
“Round 1 should be considered bad luck if you had a good win,” he told the ABC on Saturday.
“If you lost then it is good luck. It has got to be continuous. You can’t have this big gap going into Round 2.”
But Collingwood forward Jaidyn Stephenson said scrapping the opening round would be unfair on everyone, especially players who celebrated milestone games.
“The game was played so let the points count,” Stephenson said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP
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