AFL won’t rule out return of the hubs

HUBS and a compressed fixture remain on the table for next year as the AFL continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc on the 2020 season.

The league yesterday released the fixture for Rounds 1 to 23, but has only provided times and dates for the opening six rounds of the season.

It will update the second block of rounds once the season begins while monitoring the threat of the pandemic.

The league did consider implementing a complete floating fixture before deciding against it because of club and fan concerns.

While many players would be hoping to see the back of hubs in 2021, AFL fixtures boss Travis Auld said he could not rule out a repeat of what we saw this year.

That includes another footy frenzy with games played every day, which proved popular with fans and more popular with players than the league had anticipated.

“We’ve certainly got options in the sense we know we can put clubs into those highperformance centres or hubs,” Auld said.

“We know we can compress the season if we need to.

“At the moment we’ve released a fixture based on a standard format of 22 games over 23 weeks.

“It’s our intention to execute that, but it would be silly not to go in knowing we might need options at points in time.”

The 2021 season begins with the traditional clash between premiers Richmond and Carlton at the MCG on March 18, as men’s football returns to Victoria for the first time since the pandemic forced relocation in June.

Auld said the AFL did not consider tinkering with the season opener.

“Any game that can average close to 80,000 I think deserves to hold their spot,” he said.

The AFL executive said the league did not yet know what percentage of the 100,000 seats at the MCG would be available to the public.

“We’re trying to get to the highest level we can but taking into account the health and wellbeing of everyone,” he said.