The AFL is reportedly considering hubs and a condensed fixture as COVID cases spring up across Australia.
Sydney and GWS are already based in a Melbourne hub due to NSW's ongoing outbreak, while the WA government banned crowds at Optus Stadium today due to a COVID case being identified in Perth.
With the virus again causing the AFL significant issues, former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire believes a hub in Melbourne could be a viable option.
“Let’s be the war cabinet for a minute here,” McGuire said.
“Gillon McLachlan is going to wait as long as he possibly can until he makes that (hub) decision, it is costing a fortune.
“Possibly, the ideal now is to get everyone across to Melbourne knowing that Tasmania is still open to Victoria and South Australia.
“Queensland is now starting to get a question mark because they’ve got so many people on holidays, and they’re starting to get some COVID.
“We know there’s been one case in Perth, but we know Perth reacts hard, and we know Sydney has a real issue at the moment, with the two Sydney based clubs here (in Melbourne).
“I would suggest if I was on the war cabinet now that we and the AFL quickly get to a situation where everyone’s played everybody once.
“Last year we played 17 games and that was it, now (in 2021) we’ve already had a couple of games where teams have played each other a second time without playing other individual (teams).
“That would be the first thing I’d want to do … and if everyone’s here in Melbourne we can probably start to look at those things.”
McGuire believes that a hub in Melbourne would present the AFL an opportunity to have another ‘footy frenzy’ where fixtures are condensed to get to a point where every team has played each other before wrapping up the home and away campaign.
“(We could get) to a situation where we have a footy frenzy over the next couple of weeks where we try to get in as many games as we can,” McGuire added.
“Channel Seven obviously have got the Olympic Games, and Fox Footy would want to keep their broadcast of the game going.
“But it gives them a period then to stretch out to give teams an opportunity to head home, or at the very least it means we can go hard and get this season out of the way as quickly as possible.”
Following McGuire’s comments, Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph confirmed that the competition is considering both options that the former Collingwood boss mentioned.
“The AFL right now is clearly considering hubs,” Ralph said.
“Potentially a Victorian hub with every club in it, or at least 14 of the 18 teams.
“They’re seriously considering that ‘frenzy’ scenario, that would give GWS and Sydney at some stage or maybe all of the non-Victorian clubs a chance to go back to their families and friends.
“We’re getting to a situation where we could have hubs, and certainly could have another AFL footy frenzy.”