Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Grounded:The Lions will stay in Victoria for at least another day.Credit:Getty Images

The decision to stay another day was entirely an AFL call,but was made in recognition of the unfolding COVID-19 situation in Brisbane,to keep the league’s options open.

AFL sources said the preference and the hope was for the game to go ahead at the Gabba on Thursday night,but the possibility was open that the Lions would remain in Melbourne and it would be played at Marvel Stadium in the same timeslot instead.

Under this scenario,which the Lions and the AFL were hopeful would be averted,it could mean a switch in the fixture with the return game between the clubs going to the Gabba.

Club and league sources said they were “buying a day” to see what unfolded. The game must be played on Thursday night.

Collingwood have not lobbied the AFL to have the Thursday night game switched from the Gabba to Melbourne and are happy for it to go ahead in Brisbane. The Magpies had agreed to a multo-year arrangement to play the Good Friday eve match in Brisbane.

The players and staff have all been tested for COVID-19 and recorded negative results.

Some Lions officials were flying back to Brisbane on Sunday as there were no restrictions on their movement.

One further complication,in the event the game is moved to Melbourne,would be the travel plans of fans who were due to fly up to Brisbane.

The Brisbane women’s team,also due to fly out of Melbourne on Sunday,left on an earlier flight. Sources confirmed the Lions women had left Victoria.

Lions player Lauren Arnell told ABC radio the Lions women had landed back in Brisbane and the whole situation had been “bananas”.

She said the team would be careful and “as COVID-safe as we possibly can” going forward.

With the AFLW ladder still not finalised,the Lions will not know if they would be due to host a final next week until later on Sunday. If they were to host next week,it would not be until Saturday at the earliest.

Lions players and officials were among more than 15,000 people in Victoria who were ordered to get coronavirus tests after asecond case of locally acquired coronavirus was discovered in Queensland.

Brisbane’s AFL and AFLW teams were in Victoria for matches againstGeelong andMelbourne respectively.

Footy fans who had travelled to Victoria from Brisbane were asked to leave Friday night’s match in Geelong between the Lions and the Cats to get tested.

Meanwhile,the NRL has instructed its clubs to call back any players who planned to play in the Queensland Cup competition this weekend.

License this article