AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has explained why Perth won’t be hosting the 2020 Grand Final.
The AFL announced on Wednesday that the showpiece event will be held at the Gabba on Saturday October 24, in what will be the first-ever night decider.
The League also announced that Adelaide Oval is their backup venue should a COVID-19 spike force a last-minute relocation.
McLachlan explained Western Australia’s hard border restrictions was the main reasons why Optus Stadium wasn’t chosen to host the event.
“Perth weren’t a distant third,” McLachlan told reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s obviously an amazing venue and they could get to a similar (30,000) capacity but what I’d say is they’ve got the toughest borders in the country.
“In the end, to play any finals there including the Grand Final, there would have to be a seven-day hard quarantine before we could play the game.
“Everyone understands the challenge of playing in that.”
Speaking on Mix 94.5 radio, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan says earning hosting rights to the Grand Final wasn’t a priority.
“What we’ve said the whole way along is that you need to abide by our quarantine and safety conditions and we’re not going to give you millions of dollars so we were pretty strict about it,” Premier McGowan said.
“Western Australia has the best stadium, strongest AFL crowd but they went to Queensland for other reasons.
“My number one and two priority is keeping everyone safe and getting jobs back so the AFL is a distant third.”