How the AFL keeps out-running COVID-19

AFL fixture boss Travis Auld says there’s no doubt the 2021 season has presented challenges last season did not.

The league managed to get all nine games away last weekend, despite three of those being left without a venue on Saturday morning after Queensland went into lockdown.

All three were subsequently played in Melbourne on Sunday.

Speaking on 3AW, Auld said there was no doubt governments were shutting borders quicker than last year and with less notice.

“It has been challenging,” he said.

But he said the experiences of the past year meant the league had a better understanding of when it was time to move clubs to different states to avoid lockdown.

“When you’ve been doing this for a while, I think you sort of get the sense of the sort of markers that might force a government to make a decision,” Auld said.

Press PLAY below to hear how the AFL makes its decisions

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)