The AFL is weighing up whether to scrap the pre-finals bye, according to Eddie McGuire.
The former Collingwood president is reporting that multiple scenarios were put to the AFL CEOs at a meeting on Wednesday, all depending on whether crowds are allowed into Victoria.
Victoria is currently in lockdown and it’s almost impossible to see how substantial crowds will be allowed in the MCG this month or next.
“It is being discussed at the moment, so there’s no firm word on this, but if I had to put my house on it right now it’s bye-bye to the pre-(finals) bye,” McGuire told Footy Classified.
“The AFL’s thoughts at the moment are ‘let’s keep rolling, if things open up, let’s keep it going’.
“They’ll probably get rid of the pre-finals bye and keep rolling. No bye if conditions are good and they’re able to keep going.
“The next one is if the Grand Final is in Victoria, they’re now looking at bringing the Grand Final forward a week so there will be no byes whatsoever.
“If Victoria is going and we can get crowds into the MCG, keep going. If not, if the Grand Final goes interstate, then there could well be a bye between the Preliminary Finals and the Grand Final which would allow everyone to relocate, do all the quarantining that’s required and that could go into a Sunday Brownlow Medal so that there’s something on that weekend.
“The other side of that is it allows for a Grand Final parade and other festivities in Grand Final week.”
McGuire added that if moved out of Victoria, the Grand Final will likely be moved to Perth …“but they would look at Adelaide if Port Adelaide is there”.
“If Port Adelaide is in it, why wouldn’t you play it at the Adelaide Oval? If it’s a neutral, it will probably end up in Perth,” he said.
“But they’re still aiming to get it in the MCG, providing you can get a crowd in there.”
Caroline Wilson added that the AFL CEOs were almost unanimous in wanting the finals to be played in front of crowds, regardless of home ground advantage.
“That question was put to the 18 club CEOs yesterday and all but one said if you can’t have a crowd, you can’t play it at the MCG. Interestingly, Gary Pert the CEO of Melbourne said we would rather play at the MCG, crowd or no crowd,” Wilson said.
There are two home-and-away fixtures remaining with the pre-finals bye currently scheduled to take place on the weekend of August 27-29.