SA clubs in flight to avoid virus hit

ADELAIDE’S two AFL clubs flew into Melbourne on Tuesday night after a day of fixture uncertainty and travel chaos caused by the start of South Australia’s seven-day lockdown.

Port Adelaide and the Crows began the day preparing to host Collingwood and Hawthorn respectively in Adelaide, only for their Round 19 games to be moved to Marvel Stadium this weekend in the wake of SA’s 6pm stay-at-home order, which was implemented due to five new Covid-19 cases.

Victoria became the only option for the AFL to continue the season, with Queensland off the table because the SA clubs would have been required to quarantine for 14 days, given they had been in Melbourne within the past fortnight.

Both SA clubs boarded chartered flights at 8pm and were believed to have been told to pack for about four weeks.

The Power will be the ‘home’ team against the Magpies on Friday night for club great Travis Boak’s 300th match.

Adelaide will take on the Hawks at the same venue 24 hours later.

Plans to have both games at Adelaide Oval changed in the middle of the day on Tuesday when the clubs were told to quickly pack for a 4pm flight to Melbourne.

Queensland was mooted as an option for the Crows but as players and officials began arriving at Alberton and West Lakes, then loading buses bound for the airport, they were told to return home to stay overnight.

At several stages, both clubs were unaware if they would be travelling interstate, when they would be playing or who they would be facing, as the AFL worked through its fixture options.

A Showdown – scheduled for Round 21 – emerged as a possible solution, before a conference call between the Power, Crows and league on Tuesday evening resolved to fly the teams to Melbourne after 8pm.

That decision was made based on advice that SA authorities would not give the clubs an exemption to train this week or allow games in Adelaide this weekend.

Port Adelaide and the Crows will be able to train in Melbourne, where their staff and players will live under the same lockdown protocols as Victoria-based teams.

Adelaide’s clash with Hawthorn is set to be part of a Marvel Stadium double-header.

It will take place after Carlton and North Melbourne battle there earlier in the day.

As the home team, Port Adelaide had the option to choose between Marvel or the MCG.

Boak will equal Kane Cornes’s Power record of 300 AFL matches on Friday night.

The change came after Port Adelaide veteran Tom Rockliff had earlier urged the league to bring forward the pre-season bye to stabilise the situation.

He said players were told by the AFLPA the show had to go on, with the player union equating it to a cricket rain delay where it was very hard to get back on the field unless conditions were perfect.

But Rockliff said it made no sense for AFL players to go into lockdown in Melbourne.

“You do the maths on why we would fly there,” he said.