General footy chat Where will the Grand Final be played?

[KSAS]

With no footy crowds allowed in Vic for at least the next 2 weeks & with finals fast approaching, a school of thought is that a max crowd of 40k will allowed at MCG come GF (all going well).

Is that a big enough crowd for AFL to justify GF to played at MCG? This is compared to 60k at Optus stadium in Perth. This topic may gather increased debate over the coming weeks.

There is talk of only allowing crowds who are fully vaccinated to attend but that is only 16% of population at the moment.

[bloodspirit]

How flexible will WA be about letting teams fly in for finals? If they won't be flexible then the only scenario that might work for playing in WA is if they play the entire finals series in WA and use the pre-finals bye round for quarantining. That seems a bit unlikely.

[KSAS]

How flexible will WA be about letting teams fly in for finals? If they won't be flexible then the only scenario that might work for playing in WA is if they play the entire finals series in WA and use the pre-finals bye round for quarantining. That seems a bit unlikely.

I had the same thought. Planning for this would need to take place shortly if it were to happen. I know Gill will be reluctant to move GF away from the MCG 2 years running, despite crowd logistics saying otherwise.

[Markwebbos]

I think they will do everything to hold it at the MCG. They won’t be able to enforce vaccine certificates but maybe a recent negative covid test instead? That’s what they did at Euro 2020 I believe.

[barry]

For the good of the game, a grand final in Perth would be awesome. The usual build up could be replicated, and Perth is a strong AFL city.

On the negative:
- High chance the grand final will have at least on vic side, and there fans wont be able to travel.... unless they played the grand final 14 days after the prelims so they could quarantine.
- Perth is not immune to lockdowns and games without crowds, so its a risk the GF could be crowdless anyway in Perth.
- Victoria runs the AFL, and the MCC run Victoria, so will bring in the lawyers even if less than half capacity to keep it at the MCG.

[KSAS]

- Perth is not immune to lockdowns and games without crowds, so its a risk the GF could be crowdless anyway in Perth.

Whilst this is true, i think there is a greater risk of GF being played in empty MCG than Optus Stadium whilst Sydney outbreak continues to unfold.

Perth is naturally isolated from rest of the country, with hotel quarantine being their only threat. Tassie might be another option? As it stands, it will take a major shift for Gill to even begin contemplating moving GF again.

[KTigers]

For the good of the game, a grand final in Perth would be awesome. The usual build up could be replicated, and Perth is a strong AFL city.

On the negative:
- High chance the grand final will have at least on vic side, and there fans wont be able to travel.... unless they played the grand final 14 days after the prelims so they could quarantine.
- Perth is not immune to lockdowns and games without crowds, so its a risk the GF could be crowdless anyway in Perth.
- Victoria runs the AFL, and the MCC run Victoria, so will bring in the lawyers even if less than half capacity to keep it at the MCG.

Is WA still part of Australia? I thought they had left. We should be pushing for GHMBA or whatever it's called. If we end up playing
West Coast in Geelong they may not show up after what happened last time and their other games there, and we'll win on forfeit.
A win is a win. I'd be okay with it being played anywhere that people can drive in and watch the game from the comfort of their own
car. I think this year would be a good one for the game to get back to its roots. Also I have fond memories as a kid of collecting the
empty Coke and Fanta bottles that people threw out of their cars and taking them back to the kiosk to get the refund money.
This is the effect of having too much spare time because of the Covid. Besides sending in lots of posts to online football forums, you
start thinking about the good old days more. Seriously though, it's hard to imagine it being anywhere but the MCG.
Two years without a GF at the MCG and the Victoria would probably self combust. Probably best if it doesn't.

[Bloods05]

We should be pushing for GHMBA or whatever it's called.

It's called Kardinia Park FFS, has been for a million years. Why oh why do footy fans so readily fall into line with what corporate sponsors tell them to do?

[KTigers]

It's called Kardinia Park FFS, has been for a million years. Why oh why do footy fans so readily fall into line with what corporate sponsors tell them to do?

Oh come on. Who can forget it's illustrious two month history as Baytec Stadium? It's a name that will live in the hearts of Cats fans forever.
Actually I am writing this on my Baytec laptop whilst sitting on my Baytec chair. Pretty much everything I own is made by Baytec.
Everything is blue and white of course, but you can't have everything.

[MattW]

How flexible will WA be about letting teams fly in for finals? If they won't be flexible then the only scenario that might work for playing in WA is if they play the entire finals series in WA and use the pre-finals bye round for quarantining. That seems a bit unlikely.

Exactly. They'll try super hard to get it at the MCG (and I hope they do), but if they can't Adelaide Oval should be the fall-back.

[dejavoodoo44]

Oh come on. Who can forget it's illustrious two month history as Baytec Stadium? It's a name that will live in the hearts of Cats fans forever.
Actually I am writing this on my Baytec laptop whilst sitting on my Baytec chair. Pretty much everything I own is made by Baytec.
Everything is blue and white of course, but you can't have everything.

Perhaps they could simultaneously honour their great players of the past and the necessary commercial arrangements, by calling it the Hocking/Whiskas Stadium?

[Hotpotato]

Oh come on. Who can forget it's illustrious two month history as Baytec Stadium? It's a name that will live in the hearts of Cats fans forever.
Actually I am writing this on my Baytec laptop whilst sitting on my Baytec chair. Pretty much everything I own is made by Baytec.
Everything is blue and white of course, but you can't have everything.

I’ve never referred to it anything other than
The Cattery .

[KTigers]

I’ve never referred to it anything other than
The Cattery .

It is hard to keep up with all that's going on down there with their weird shaped ground, HP. Skilled, Simonds, Baytec, GHMBA, Kardinia Park,
The Cattery, some people probably just say, "we're playing in Geelong". And that's when it gets really confusing. And as DV44 suggests the
"Whiskas" era should be enshrined in Geelong folklore as well, but strangely hasn't. But overall, I just hope we get a final there this year
and run into West Coast again. I think they'll refuse to come out of the sheds, and we'll win by forfeit.

[Roadrunner]

Regarding the GF: at this stage obviously the MCG with sensible qualifications eg vaccinations. Let’s hope the Swannies will be there!

[liz]

If you wish to discuss the politics of COVID responses, there is a thread in Open Chat. Please post your comments there. Off topic posts in this thread have been removed.