2020 Fixture

[one-eyed]

Scrap tradition and ‘get creative’: Richo open to radical ‘championship’

“Unless you can have probably 15 games - and this is just off the top of my head - I think if you get to the point where you’re not having any more games than that, then really I’m not sure whether you should actually award a premiership,” Richardson told 7NEWS.com.au.

“Maybe you’re just playing games for the sake of having some football for people to watch and fans to follow in a tough time. I don’t think you can be awarding premierships if you only play 12 or 13 games.”

Richardson feels playing for a purpose during a season that can last only a few months would require some imagination and innovation.

A round robin and knockout tournament could clear any concerns about fairness if a 17-game season cannot go ahead.

Asked if the AFL should then consider shelving tradition and instead make use of a championship with a new trophy, the former Tigers star made his thoughts clear.

“They’re going to have to come up with something else. Are you playing for the premiership? I’m not so sure about that,” he added.

“I think it’s just going to be some form of football on the TV for fans to watch at home ... People don’t like change and people want it to be the same, but this is an extraordinary circumstance.

“If it gets to the point where we’ve only got x amount of weeks to get some footy on then we’re going to have to get creative. I think everyone’s just got to accept it and be positive about it.”

https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/matthew-richardson-open-to-afl-scrapping-tradition-for-radical-championship-season-c-957324

[one-eyed]

REVEALED: The AFL's plan to restart footy

By Damian Barrett
afl.com.au
6 April 2020

AFL CLUBS will be given at least a three-week "pre-season" but no practice matches before a resumption of play in 2020.

With competition suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, AFL general manager of football operations Steve Hocking has also told AFL.com.au that a rule allowing extra interchange players would be considered.

The AFL has declared it would not consider a return to matches until June, but it is likely the season suspension will continue long beyond that month.

Hocking said discussions with the football department heads at clubs had also raised the possibility of additional bench players, and even the re-introduction of a substitute player.

Playing in Round 1 provided great insight for how to manage the rest of the season.

"Getting round one away was a real credit to everybody. The decisions before that to shorten the quarters, to keep rotations at 90, and also to lengthen the time post-goals to allow access to trainers and water carriers, all the feedback to that has been exceptional.

"We've got a good body of evidence from round one that sets us up to move forward … round one is what we will take forward at this point in time.

"…what this downtime, or pause on the game, has provided us with is an opportunity as an industry to think differently.

"It's such a different season compared to any other year. The certainty that normally is in place and the rigidity of programming, people prosper off it, thrive off it.

"This season, the team that wins the premiership is going to be an amazing team because there is so much they are going to have to work through.

"The agility and flexibility and open-mindedness to what they are going to face is going to be critical to land the premiership."

When the AFL suspended the 2020 season at the completion of round one, it said rounds two to four would be retained as per initial fixturing, at least in terms of match-ups if not venues.

But Hocking suggested even that could change.

"There is some uncertainty around that," Hocking said. "But we haven't shifted away from that at this stage."

https://www.afl.com.au/news/390838/revealed-the-afl-s-plan-to-restart-footy

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AFL has multiple options on table for 2020

By Mark Robinson
Herald-Sun
6 April 2020

The AFL has explored “at least 10” different scenarios for how the rest of this season could look and still has “a lot of confidence” it can complete 144 more games this year.

Hocking said he was more confident than hopeful that the season would be completed this year. He said clubs were open to “innovative” ideas, including having multiple teams isolated in one city to play a series of matches, just as the NRL is considering.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-considers-multiple-scenarios-for-completing-2020-season/news-story/8faf296f76a6543166f2cab903f5d947

[Eat_em_Alive]

They are now talking about basing teams in Darwin and playing multiple games when the season resumes.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/videos/afl/afl-video-footy-based-at-darwin-idea/ck8m6jizs001f0iqwhduv0cm3

I guess they have to do what they have to do..

[one-eyed]

Eddie says the latest idea is to spread the 18 teams across three states with the lowest coronavirus cases.

WA - 6 teams
SA - 6 teams
Tas - 3 in Hobart & 3 in Launceston.

Teams to play round robin fixtures while isolated in one location before travelling in private planes.

McGuire said the plan would help offset the millions Tasmania receives from its partnerships with Hawthorn and North Melbourne.

“It would also mean that Tasmania … would get their money’s worth, which would be great,” he said.

“You’d get a lot of TV exposure, you’d get the players down there so the economic stimulus would be good.”

While Northern Territory (26) has the lowest rate of COVID-19, McGuire added: “Taking into account that you have got to be careful of course, even Alice Springs or Darwin, we have to be very careful of our indigenous population, particularly in the remote areas of Australia, so they may not get the spot.”

He said the proposal would limit the potential for coronavirus to spread through the competition and further delay the season.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/eddie-mcguires-tassie-plan-to-save-afl-season/news-story/02dfeed9a49c2ca5f26fb0601afd635d

[pmac21]

Hutchy wants a Tasmanian team to enter the comp this year as a one off.  Fair dinkum, this idiot has lost the plot.  How does he get air time. 

[one-eyed]

Hutchy wants a Tasmanian team to enter the comp this year as a one off.  Fair dinkum, this idiot has lost the plot.  How does he get air time.

And he wanted Jack Riewoldt to leave us to join it and then comeback to us for 2021 .

[one-eyed]

McCrann’s plan is based on the hub model and (utilises) round robin groups, taking advantage of states likely to emerge from the coronavirus earlier – potentially Tasmania and Western Australia.

Phase 1 would involve having three six-club groups of teams, potentially playing in Tasmania and Western Australia.

Six clubs in Hobart, six in Launceston and six in Perth.

Phase two would incorporate Adelaide as the groups split and move.

In phase three, footy would completely depart Tassie, while Queensland would become another base for games.

Finally, phase four would see footy returning back to Victoria in the run to the finals.

https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/coronavirus-update-radical-four-phase-afl-return-plan-revealed-c-960593

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AFL Players' Association president and Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield described the plans put forward in recent days as "speculative" at best.

Dangerfield said many players would find it "extremely difficult" to be isolated away from their families for extended periods to play football.

However, he also noted players felt a responsibility to clubs that are under huge financial pressure and staff who have been stood down as a result of cutbacks.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/390875/why-danger-s-not-comfortable-with-proposed-quarantine-hub-

[one-eyed]

Tom Browne on Ch 7 news reckons each hub will have 4 games in 3 weeks. It will be a FIFO arrangement for the teams/players.

Apparently a memo went out today which had one of the hubs being the NT (they are keen).

https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/1247446686126891008

[one-eyed]

In a memo from league chief Gillon McLachlan, the AFL told clubs that basing themselves in a "controlled environment" remained a viable possibility as the league considers various return-to-play plans.

The league flagged with its clubs in the memo that the financial structure for the 2021 and 2022 seasons is almost certain to look different, with AFL headquarters' chief strategist Walter Lee enlisted to work on financial plans.

Lee, a trusted advisor of McLachlan's, was one of two executives along with fixture boss Travis Auld who travelled to the US with McLachlan last year to meet with tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook to discuss potential broadcast opportunities.

In the memo clubs were also told the league was steadfast in its desire to play the remaining 144 home-and-away games plus a finals series.

The memo said the league planned to tell clubs by the end of April what its plan was for the remainder of the 2020 season.

The AFL's original timeframe was for players to return to their clubs and train on May 4, although many industry sources expect that to be pushed back, depending on advice from the federal and state governments.

But despite time not being on the game's side, McLachlan stressed in the email to club bosses that the "health and wellbeing" of the players and staff remained the AFL's top priority.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/speculative-at-best-dangerfield-not-sold-on-afl-quarantine-hub-20200407-p54hsd.html

[one-eyed]

Premiers Richmond said they were open to a cluster-style format with teams playing in quarantine hubs to get AFL under way despite lukewarm feedback from the league’s stars. The idea of playing in groups of six teams in states with lower infection rates is just one of 12 proposals to help resume play, but has gained traction in recent days.

The Australian understands that unlike the NRL, the league is not pushing it as a proposal to start in coming months, but as an idea for later in the season.

If states and territories eased restrictions, the league would be able to fly teams into various states with low infection rates without having to quarantine them for 14 days.

The reality that Australia might be in some level of lockdown for the entire year means the league must come up with alternate proposals or find itself in a $400m broadcast black hole.

Richmond senior club adviser Neil Balme said clubs were genuinely open to any proposal.

“If that is what was to happen we would be more than happy to do it,” Balme said. “The clubs won’t be difficult about it, I can assure you, within reason.

“Whatever way we can play, we will play, it’s safe to say.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-prepares-to-return-but-with-a-bleak-warning/news-story/6ea92628a144b56cd39feeb021642464

[georgies31]

Wake up for Godsake the AFL stop trying to be the centre of a attention and do things at any cost to much stupidity .The world is suffering from a serious sickness and we a deeply affected in Australia clowns  .

[one-eyed]

The NRL reckons it will restart in 6 weeks.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/arl-commission-set-to-sign-off-nrl-return-for-may-21-start-date/422c8cea-573c-4769-9811-a4a3b6108272

[one-eyed]

Fox Footy analyst David King has revealed the idea of players spending ‘as much as 20 weeks’ playing in isolated hubs is being canvassed as an ‘extreme option’, as the AFL continues to develop the radical idea in an effort to get a season away in 2020 despite the coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-afl-2020-hub-dangerfield-aflpa-david-king/news-story/4b60848a99f22c87e3a3bd7bf7a4a316

Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell is confident that the AFL premiership season will restart by July at the latest following the coronavirus shutdown.

https://africa.espn.com/afl/story/_/id/29010177/bombers-boss-confident-afl-back-july

[cub]

Even if it is the Tiges, this years premiership will mean close to stuff all!!!! 
Just hope some poo arse club doesnt fluke it

[Tiger Khosh]

Even if it is the Tiges, this years premiership will mean close to stuff all!!!! 
Just hope some poo arse club doesnt fluke it

Disagree. Every club playing under the same conditions, the premiership will count all the same to me.