Rest easy in your beds

AFL to assure players that revisiting COVID-19 hubs will be a last resort

AFL players will be told next week that a repeat of last year’s interstate hubs would be a disastrous last option used only in the event of a catastrophic outbreak.

The AFL has made clear to clubs that this year will again be a COVID-affected one that will require fixture changes and the same agile approach that saved last season.

Clubs and players are adamant that those interstate hubs were a one-off given the physical and mental toll of a condensed season.

But the capacity of states to control recent community transitions and the imminent vaccine roll-out has the AFL confident about its capacity to keep players in their own beds.

Leading Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said yesterday it would take an unforeseen setback for hubs to be needed.

At worst, players might have to be tested regularly and even relocate interstate for short periods if borders are shut for short-term outbreaks.

The GWS AFLW players have had to relocate several times to ensure they can continue to play during local outbreaks.

The AFL is confident that while clubs might have to spend several weeks on the road, the long-term hub arrangements when players could not escape hotels will not be needed.

The AFLPA will start club visits next week and talk about every possible option for the season. Victorian and West Australian players were COVID-tested this week.

Bennett said the lessons learned in the past year meant professional sports like the AFL would be less likely to have to lockdown players in hubs.

“We are in a really good position,’’ she said. “We will have a continual battle with sporadic outbreaks but hopefully what we saw in Sydney before Christmas will be the worst of it, even with those cases spreading to other states, including Victoria.

“With states having had more practice and early identification we may still need border permits but the hope is that borders won’t close. We should not have to relocate sportspeople in order to allow them to train and play together.

“All the states are looking much better and even with Victoria’s reset hotel program, when we have seen recent cases with the contact tracing and revamped health structure, it means we avoid cases getting away from us and the flow-on effect to other activities like professional sportspeople crossing state borders.”

Bennett said the successful running of events like the Australian Open without the spread of COVID would increase the chances of crowds of up to 75 per cent capacity for the AFL.

“Every time you have a safe event it helps governments have more confidence in their next decisions,” she said.