VFL finals revamp as AFL clubs set to choose home final venues

The AFL has called a halt to the VFL home-and-away season but plans to play a sudden-death finals series beginning on September 4 after Victoria’s lockdown is scheduled to end.

The decision was made to end the home-and-away season immediately and then resume in a fortnight with eight teams, including Collingwood, Geelong, Footscray (the Bulldogs), Casey (Melbourne’s affiliate) and the Box Hill Hawks (Hawthorn’s affiliate) to play off in elimination finals for a spot in a preliminary final.

Melbourne may face a tricky choice of venue if they were to finish on top.Credit:Getty Images

The ladder was finalised on a match ratio basis because teams had played between nine and 11 games during the interrupted season.

The elimination games will be Footscray (first) v GWS (eighth), Southport (second) v Collingwood (seventh), Box Hill Hawks (third) v Williamstown (sixth) and Geelong (fourth) v Casey (fifth).

If the lockdown continues and elimination finals can’t be played, the plan is then to have a preliminary final weekend involving the top four teams with first to play fourth and second to play third for a spot in the grand final.

The VFL grand final is scheduled to be played at Marvel Stadium on September 19, with the game to be played without crowds if the state government does not allow them.

Meanwhile Victorian or NSW-based AFL clubs that win the right to host an elimination or qualifying final will be able to choose where they play the match, but their options will be limited to venues that can have crowds.

It may give Melbourne a tricky choice if they were to finish on top as they would need to determine where they had the best chance of winning their first final based on their opponent and the suitability of the ground for their style, with the MCG and Marvel Stadium ruled out.

Brisbane Lions players celebrate a goal on their way to victory over Collingwood on the weekend. Credit:AFL Photos

With most top-eight positions undecided leading into the final round it is impossible for the AFL to determine when or where finals will be played until next weekend, however it has opened up sterile corridors to allow teams to play in South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia if the COVID situation in those states remains stable.

It is waiting to see whether the Victorian government will allow crowds in regional areas that are not in lockdown for the first week in the finals, which would affect the options available to Geelong, and potentially even the Western Bulldogs, who play occasional home games in Ballarat. There will be no crowds allowed at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night when Geelong host Melbourne.

At this stage, if the Brisbane Lions or Port Adelaide win the right to host a final they will play the match at the Gabba and Adelaide Oval respectively, with hopes growing that the Gabba will be able to accommodate a crowd of 75 per cent capacity during finals.

League sources said it was unlikely an elimination or qualifying final would be played in Perth between neutral teams as combining quarantine restrictions with travel would be too onerous for the losing team attempting to back-up in the second week of finals.

However Tasmania is a serious option for clubs likely to have earned the right to a home final and are unable to host it at their actual home ground, with clubs broadly agreeing that higher-ranked teams would not be forced to play at a lower-ranked team’s home venue in the lead-up to the grand final.

That could see Sydney play a final against the Giants in Tasmania, depending on how the final round plays out.

The AFL expects to be in a better position after week one of the finals to then consider the preliminary final venues and whether it uses a bye in that week as it will know which teams have won their way into the preliminary final.

Meanwhile, the Western Australian government does not have a formal position on vaccinations for sports teams despite the Premier Mark McGowan saying on Monday that he assumed all AFL players would be vaccinated already.

“I would expect most footballers, in fact probably all, are already vaccinated. I certainly would’ve thought that would be a wise decision by the AFL,” McGowan said.

An education program relating to group vaccinations is being developed for AFL players and staff by the AFL’s head of healthcare governance, Rachel Elliot, in consultation with the AFLPA and clubs, but there will be no policy on vaccinations before the end of the season.

The AFL has already stated it will encourage all players and staff working in the industry to be vaccinated, but it has not been in a position to make vaccination mandatory as it adhered to government policy which put frontline workers and more vulnerable members of the community first in line for a jab.

Any vaccination among players or staff has been a personal decision in line with the rest of the community rather than based on an industry-wide policy with the Players’ Association not yet having records of how many players have been vaccinated.

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Peter Ryan is a sports reporter with The Age covering AFL, horse racing and other sports.

Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.

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