With the WA and SA clubs relocating to hubs on the Gold Coast for up to a month, Dwayne Russell believes this gives Brisbane a major fixture advantage.
It means the Lions won’t travel to Perth or Adelaide this season and will play West Coast, Fremantle, Port Adelaide and Adelaide in Queensland at either the Gabba or Metricon Stadium.
“I do think the Brisbane Lions are pretty big winners out of what’s happened,” Russell told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“The Brisbane Lions now have five home games in a row in essence, the way this is probably going to pan out.
“The Brisbane Lions might end up playing a few of these teams at Metricon Stadium but they've got as their next five games: Gold Coast, West Coast, Fremantle, the Crows and Port Adelaide all in Queensland.
“What that means is because you don’t have to play anybody twice this season they won’t have to travel to Perth this season … they won’t play the West Coast Eagles or Fremantle in Perth.
“Which means they won’t have to do the six-and-a-quarter-hour journey to Perth and back to play West Coast and won’t have to do it to play Fremantle.
“They were scheduled to play both the Crows and Port Adelaide in Adelaide, that won’t happen now either, so their trips will be to Sydney, the MCG or Marvel Stadium.”
CEO Greg Swann says the minimal travel will help the Lions but had nothing but respect for their future opponents.
“That’s a small advantage to us but there’s no guarantees we’ll win," Swann told SEN's Dwayne's World.
"They’re pretty good teams those teams so we’ll still have our work cut out, but certainly it’s a bit easier when you’ve either got to come to the Gabba or just travel 45 minutes down the road to play rather than having to fly."
June 11 is when the 2020 AFL season will resume with the first block of fixtures to be released in 10 days.
Listen to Greg Swann's chat on SEN's Dwayne's World in the player below
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