Only two games can be locked in: Fremantle v Richmond in Perth and Western Bulldogs v Adelaide in Ballarat, though whether that game is Saturday or Sunday remains up in the air.

Foxfooty.com.au understands the AFL is set to have Carlton and St Kilda shifted from Saturday to Friday night and Essendon v Sydney moved to Saturday.

Both the Swans and Bombers have both already had five-day breaks, forcing the AFL to delay their match by a day.

All of Gold Coast v Melbourne, Hawthorn v Brisbane and GWS v Port Adelaide require a sterile corridor for teams to fly up and back from Victoria to Queensland.

If not, the league may need to look at shifting fixtures from Rounds 21, 22 or 23.

As things stand, the Demons can’t fly to the Gold Coast without quarantining, the Lions can come to Melbourne but would then be unable to go back to Queensland, while Port Power would be required to quarantine before facing the Giants in the sunshine state.

There is also uncertainty over whether North Melbourne can host Geelong in Hobart as originally planned. The Roos remain confident but have received no official word.

If the AFL succeeds in establishing a sterile corridor across Bass Strait, the Roos and Cats could fly in and fly out on the same day and play in front of a crowd.

If not, the game would be in Victoria.

Collingwood has been told West Coast will fly to Melbourne ahead of Round 20.

At this stage, the plan is for the game to proceed as scheduled on Saturday, which would force the Eagles into home quarantine for seven days when they return home to Perth ahead of Round 21.

The league remains committed to pushing through the season and finding ways to get the remaining four rounds completed. It could use the week before finals to reset and does not want to pause the competition, despite suggestions from Sydney they should consider it for integrity and fairness reasons.

The official word from the AFL is the Grand Final will be played at the MCG. But speaking on 3AW on Friday, Gillon McLachlan conceded the game would only go ahead at its traditional home if it could muster a “decent” crowd.

FRIDAY

St Kilda v Carlton (Marvel Stadium) – Likely

SATURDAY

North Melbourne v Geelong (Blundstone Arena) – Uncertain

Essendon v Sydney (Queensland) – Likely

Gold Coast v Melbourne (Gabba) – Uncertain

Collingwood v West Coast (MCG) – Likely

Hawthorn v Brisbane (Adelaide Oval) – Uncertain

SUNDAY

Western Bulldogs v Adelaide (Ballarat) – Likely

GWS v Port Adelaide (TBA) – Uncertain

Fremantle v Richmond (Optus Stadium) - Locked

 

Really hard to know what's going to happen with us this weekend.

Seems like we're reliant on Queensland allowing us into the state without needing to quarantine. Otherwise it looks like the West Coast v Collinwood and Bulldogs v Adelaide games are going ahead, which means our only other possible opponent is Geelong, if they can't get the North v Geelong game to work.

Would imagine we'll end up in Queensland one way or another though.

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Really hard to know what's going to happen with us this weekend.

Seems like we're reliant on Queensland allowing us into the state without needing to quarantine. Otherwise it looks like the West Coast v Collinwood and Bulldogs v Adelaide games are going ahead, which means our only other possible opponent is Geelong, if they can't get the North v Geelong game to work.

Would imagine we'll end up in Queensland one way or another though.

Does it matter tu? 

I assume they've made a typo with the GC V Melbourne game being at the GABBA. Would probably prefer it at the GABBA given that we had a winning record at the GABBA and a losing record at Metricon last year.

I'm sure we'll play this game in QLD. That state will always provide exemptions where there's possible economic benefits to suit them.

Why can't clubs fly between Queensland and Melbourne? We're likely to be mostly out of lockdown. How many cases have come from the AFL community, they need to be given more credit. Too much political posturing.

16 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I assume they've made a typo with the GC V Melbourne game being at the GABBA. Would probably prefer it at the GABBA given that we had a winning record at the GABBA and a losing record at Metricon last year.

I'm sure we'll play this game in QLD. That state will always provide exemptions where there's possible economic benefits to suit them.

Definitely a mistake. Would be GC or Darwin (not very likely).

so bring the Suns down here. They are coming the following week anyway

22 minutes ago, bobby1554 said:

so bring the Suns down here. They are coming the following week anyway

Not the worst idea. I doubt their CEO will go for that. He's been pretty vocal on saying that the MCG should not be hosting the GF. We'd probably have to promise our next 3 matches be played at Metricon.

On 7/2/2021 at 5:09 PM, titan_uranus said:

The AFL's website has this information now. Go to the game's page (for this one it's here: https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3108) and then go to Player Stats, and use the advanced stats to find intercept marks and possession (as well as pressure acts and plenty of other info).

Nah [censored] that.

The MCG is our home ground. We deserve to play where we want to play.

At any rate, there's not a huge difference between the crowd we'll get tomorrow and what we'd get under "normal" conditions.

The Ross Perot of AFL

So the Lions can’t return to Brisbane but NRL can have their families fly in from Sydney and players can continually break the isolation rules of the bubble?

 

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

 

If Geelong are a little off their tucker I can see North rolling them down in Hobart.

Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, Geelong are way too mature to drop this sort of game this late in the season.

I'd expect the Dees to get clearance to play GC at Metricon on Saturday twilight.

2 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

So the Lions can’t return to Brisbane but NRL can have their families fly in from Sydney and players can continually break the isolation rules of the bubble?

There's clearly economic benefits for the NRL to move up to QLD, just like the AFL last year. Conversely Brisbane flying down to VIC provides no benefit to QLD.

Their chief health officer showed her hand last year when she admitted that Hollywood superstars would be given priority over the run of the mill nothing special Australian who applied for special consideration to come into that state.

 

Edited July 26, 20213 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

 

15 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If Geelong are a little off their tucker I can see North rolling them down in Hobart.

Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, Geelong are way too mature to drop this sort of game this late in the season.

I'd expect the Dees to get clearance to play GC at Metricon on Saturday twilight.

Not a chance Geelong drop a game like this. Us on the other hand …

3 hours ago, old dee said:

Does it matter tu? 

Yes it does, old dee.

Most of the rest of us haven't given up on the season just yet, given we're 13-1-4 and 3rd on the ladder.

4 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Yes it does, old dee.

Most of the rest of us haven't given up on the season just yet, given we're 13-1-4 and 3rd on the ladder.

What I was meaning was with no crowds in Vic and unlikely to be in the next couple of weeks does it matter where we play? 

If West Coast are already coming to Victoria to play Pies this week, could we be so blessed as to have our game against them the following week also in Victoria so neither team has to do the whole isolation thing?

Can't remember the last time we even played West Coast at the G. 

I suggest we fly Gold Coast here, then play West Coast the following week. That means no leaving the state at all for the rest of the H&A season.... and somehow we still manage to lose both those games.... 

I hate politicians and unelected health officials. Anyway back to the footy why can't visiting melbourne teams do what happened in S.A. 

From ABC Website:

Gutwein on the AFL: Mask up, buttercups!

Yeah, look, he didn't phrase it in that exact way, but he did say that masks would be mandatory at this weekend's AFL matches.

The North Melbourne vs Geelong AFL match at Blundstone arena on Saturday will proceed, as will the Hawthorn vs Brisbane Lions at UTAS Stadium on Sunday.

Mr Gutwein said the "onus is on the fans" to bring their own mask for use at the game.

Up to 10,000 seated spectators will be allowed at each match.

 

With Brisbane going to Tassie presumably because they can't get back into Qld without quarantine means we won't be playing in Qld either.  Anybody's guess where we will end up.  1st pref is Vic but could NT open the doors in time...really hope not.

Edited July 26, 20213 yr by Lucifer's Hero

I keep seeing the term "sterile corridor". What does it mean (no jokes, please) and how does it differ from what we've been seeing up until now?

12 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Can't remember the last time we even played West Coast at the G. 

Glad to hear the therapy’s working for you! Last time at the G was 7 and a half years ago and we went down by a lazy 93 points in Roosy’s 2nd game as coach for us; it at least was an improvement on our “effort” from the previous year against them at the G - a 94 point loss. 

31 minutes ago, Jaded said:

If West Coast are already coming to Victoria to play Pies this week, could we be so blessed as to have our game against them the following week also in Victoria so neither team has to do the whole isolation thing?

Can't remember the last time we even played West Coast at the G. 

I suggest we fly Gold Coast here, then play West Coast the following week. That means no leaving the state at all for the rest of the H&A season.... and somehow we still manage to lose both those games.... 

To be honest our at the G of late has been poor really.

Rather play them at Marvel.

36 minutes ago, dl4e said:

I hate politicians and unelected health officials. Anyway back to the footy why can't visiting melbourne teams do what happened in S.A. 

Armed with my deep expertise in all matters, I can't wait to vote for who is an expert.    I hate unelected football pundits, but at least I am expert enough to know most of them have no special expertise.