AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is confident the league will be able to come to an arrangement with state governments that will see families of Sydney and GWS players join them in Victoria.
Players and staff from both the Swans and Giants have been based in Melbourne for more than three weeks because of Sydney’s COVID-19 woes.
Both clubs have conceded it is likely they will remain on the road for the rest of the season.
In conjunction with the AFL, they have been working to find a way to reunite players and staff with families from Sydney.
McLachlan said the league had been involved in “productive conversations” with the Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory governments to sort out quarantine and travel arrangements amid a raft of interstate restrictions.
“There are two clubs whose families are now our priority,” McLachlan said.
“As its played out over the last few days, I think there’s an acceptance that they’re staying here.
“We’ll provide whatever support is necessary (and) we’ll get the families that want to come down here, down here.
“Some may not be able to and will have to stay in Sydney and we will support those, and we’ll continue to support the clubs down here in Melbourne.”
Meanwhile, the seven additional locally acquired coronavirus cases in Victoria have cast some doubt over what the coming rounds will look like for the AFL.
The league on Tuesday confirmed its schedule for rounds 19 and 20, but will monitor the evolving situation closely.
McLachlan expects there will be no change to crowd limits in Melbourne – currently set at 75 per cent of a stadium’s capacity, with a cap of 40,000 – for round 18, but the league is braced for that to change.
“We’re going to the football this weekend as it stands today (and) we’ll deal with whatever changes come,” McLachlan said.
“That’s what we’ve been doing for 18 months.”
McLachlan said he had no knowledge of any Victorian-based players or staff being connected to the growing list of coronavirus exposure sites in Melbourne.
The list includes the MCG, where Level 2 of the MCC Members’ Reserve had been listed as a tier two exposure site after one of the seven new positive cases attended last Saturday’s Carlton-Geelong match.
About 2000 fans have been asked to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative test.
Anyone else who attended the game has been asked to monitor for symptoms.
“Every Victorian club has been tested out of an abundance of caution,” McLachlan said.
Geelong players and staff flying to Perth for Thursday night’s clash with Fremantle were due to be met by Western Australia police on arrival and be taken immediately for testing.
AAP
