Blues could play Suns in Adelaide

Carlton could play Gold Coast in Adelaide next week due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Queensland which has prompted the AFL to warn the Suns to be ready for a prolonged absence from the state.

The Suns have been told to prepare for the possibility, or likelihood, they could be unable to return to Queensland for three weeks after they were granted permission to fly to Adelaide to play the Crows this week.

The Suns are drawn to play Carlton at Metricon next round on the Saturday night. If they cannot return to the state that game would clearly have to be shifted.

“We were told to prepare for all contingencies by the AFL including being out of Queensland for more than a week,” Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans said.

“Our initial response is to make sure we have training facilities for us in Adelaide. We expect things to evolve over the next 48 hours whether that game (against Carlton at Metricon next week) can take place in Queensland or not.“

The AFL is exploring all contingencies for that eventuality.

Presently there are games in Melbourne at both the MCG and Marvel Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a game in Ballarat on the Saturday afternoon, so the idea of flipping the game from an Gold Coast home game to a Carlton home game and playing it at Marvel Stadium is problematic if it is held on either Saturday or Sunday.

The options for rescheduling the game include it being held still in its scheduled time slot on Saturday night to minimise disruption to the fixture for length of breaks between games but hold the match in Adelaide.

Other options include staging it in Melbourne but moving the day.

That option opens up the possibility of the game being on the Monday night at Marvel Stadium.

The next match, in round five, for both teams is on the following Saturday so they would both have only a five-day break before their next match instead of a seven-day break. The Suns’ round five game is against the Bulldogs in Melbourne.

Another option would be for an unusual double-header on Friday night with the Carlton-Gold Coast game held at Docklands as a twilight fixture running into the Richmond-Port Adelaide game from Adelaide Oval later that night.

That has obvious scheduling difficulties for crowds given a start time on a work day and having to push the Richmond game back half an hour.

Further complicating the picture for the AFL with the fixturing in coming weeks is the fact the WA Government has closed its borders to Queensland following the latest outbreak.

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